I am in recovery mode.  It's not the norovirus that wiped me out, like it did poor Addison, nope.  Instead it was my family.  My ridiculous, lovely, fantastic cousins are responsible for the fact that I am barely a contributing part of society this week.

After disinfecting my house from top to bottom last week, I packed my bags, kissed the kiddos and husband goodbye and pointed the car east toward Pittsburgh.  The long talked about and awaited Flaherty girls weekend had arrived.  I stopped in Columbus to grab my cousin Liz, paused in Wheeling to kiss my Aunt Ruthie (who, along with all the Aunts I believe, was a bit sad to be be missing out out the fun), and finally arrived in Pittsburgh at the same time as my cousin Amanda.  I arrived with Liz, Amanda arrived with a bag full of wine and cheese. 
My youngest cousin Jill got off work and helped up polish off a bottle or few of wine and off we headed to a bar to wait for the last piece of the puzzle, Joan, who was flying in from New York City.  To say that we partied like it was 1998 is a massive understatement.  The shear amount and variety of beverages ordered was stunning - and slightly repulsive.  To say we laughed wouldn't do it justice.  We shared a few kumbaya moments with car bombs; learned about the rare Fort Meyer's red pelican; and completely forgot our ages.
The next day my cheeks hurt - and so did all of our heads.  A lot.
We powered on with our makeovers - Jill beautified us all with new cuts and colors, while we noshed on cheese, pepperoni, amazing  lemon raspberry cupcakes.  We wandered the Strip district, missed out on having street tacos, sat outside in the sunshine and tasted the most amazing popcorn.
After a fancy dinner out I was ready for bed, but in true Flaherty girl fashion I was cajoled into "just one more drink", turns out mango mojitos are magical.
I had a blast.  I truly did. 
It will take me about a year until I am ready to be that fun again.  And while my body hates just about every decision I made over the weekend, there is one wonderful thing that I think I always knew, but was undoubtedly confirmed:  My family is amazing.  We are all  stuck with each other because we are family - but I would choose them as friends anyway.  They are each uniquely lovely women.   They are poised, hysterical, successful, fun and I know that I am lucky to have them.

So, thanks Flaherty girls!  I look forward to next year...with any luck I will have recovered by then.

Five Weeks

We are in the final five weeks. 
Five weeks until our little family of three turns into a family of four. 
Five weeks until incredibly sleepless nights and endless diaper changes.

Five weeks until tiny onesies and the sweet smell of baby.
Five weeks until toothless, gum filled grins enter our house.
Five weeks until I can stop fretting about being pregnant.
Five more weeks until I start worrying about raising another daughter, sibling rivalries and being able to do it all.

Five more weeks until we meet her. 
Her, our still nameless daughter. 
The one who forms right angles in my belly and dances each day around midnight. 
Her, the baby we took years to decided whether or not to have and now can hardly wait for her introduction.
The one who will inherit tons of tutus and pink and purple.
Her. 
Addison's little sister. 
Our littlest lady.

Who will she be?
In her infancy will she only be calmed by the soothing voice of her father?
As a toddler will she endlessly seek the shelter of my lap?
Will she demand hairbows and skirts and be in love with all things Princess?
Or will she wear ponytails and jeans and not be caught without her shin guards?

Will she have dark hair and chocolate eyes like her father?
Will she share her sister's cheeks?
Will she be feisty or sweet or a mix of two?
Will she like tummy time and stories, rocking slowly and the cat?
How will she feel about green beans?

Five weeks to get the house organized.
Five weeks to fill the drawers with sweet baby clothes and decorate the nursery.
Five weeks to stock pile sleep, patience and sanity.
Five weeks until our world is turned wonderfully upside down again....

Just five more weeks.

Weekend

Last weekend was one of little intentional plans, but ended up being quite full of fun. Along with our foray into bowling, Addie and I headed to the fourth birthday party of her pal Max.

Max, and his 1st grade big brother Jake, live a little over a mile away and are quintessential boys. They love basketball and football and polliwogs and dogs. They both are rough and tumble, but also incredibly sweet and fun loving. Addie and Max are about a month a part in age, and met through my exercise class when they were only a year old.

They shared strollers while us mommies ran laps. They play dolls and cars together and, before Nicholas, Max was her original prince. While they are not in the same classroom this year, they will be across the hall from each other at preschool and I am sure that I will get daily updates about Max when I pick her up from school.

I snapped this picture on Addie's 2nd birthday of the two playmates:

And this over the weekend celebrating Max's 4th birthday:

My how they've grown! They continue to be wonderful friends to each other and all night Saturday Andy and I were told time and time again how fun the party was at Max's.

Sunday was a lazish day - Andy made a delicious breakfast, we lounged around and drank coffee. Soccer was watched, naps were taken, books were read. Late in the afternoon we headed off to a church festival - a hallmark of summer in Cincinnati.

Church festivals here aren't picnics with potato sack races and egg tosses. No, church festivals in Cincinnati include beer tents, gambling, carnival games and ears of corn drowning in melted butter. One of the last festivals of the season is the St. Ignatius Fest, just a few miles from our house. Before Andy's volleyball game, and a scrumptious dinner of steak, potatoes and blueberry dump cake, we headed off to our first, and probably last, festival of the season.

With a stack of ride tickets provided by Gramma Patty, Addie and her cousins were in heaven. The spun on the twirling pumpkins, climbed the wizards castle multiple times, flew helicopters and airplanes and raced horses on the carousal. A perfect end to what was unplanned, but not lazy, family weekend

Helicopter pilots

Carousal races

The boys - Ry and Liam

Flying high above Cincinnati

Bowler Babe

A little bit of coaching from Dad

For several years, while we still lived in Chicago, Andy participated in a Sunday night bowling league.  I joined him for a year or two, but it turned out I severely lacked any bowling skills (although I did excel in beer drinking and french fry eating).  I would often go to hang out with the boys and fill in if needed - Andy, however, became quite the bowler.  By the end of one league he had his own shoes, bag, ball and blood blister to prove it.

Since moving to Cincinnati I don't think his bowling bag has even been unzipped.  That all changed this weekend when we headed to Western Bowl with Genna and her clan for a little family bowling night.  We thought Addie might like doing something a little different - we were wrong. 

She didn't like it, she LOVED it.   I think the bright pink ball and the 16 ounce cherry slushie helped solidify her opinion.

Addie approached each frame with impressive four year old concentration and cheered every pin that she knocked down.  My favorite frame was when she stepped over the line, slipped down the alley on her belly and still managed to roll a spare - the girl has raw talent!  On her second game, she even managed to bowl a 92 - a score that I celebrated achieving back in our Chicago league days.

A week with Gramma

In pictures....

Eagerly awaiting Gramma's arrival at the airport and occasionally yelling

Gramma! Where are you??

Exploring Findlay Market on Sunday morning. Tasting every free sample,

smelling every flower and having a lovely start to the day.

Addie and Gramma work on planting Addie's very own strawberry plant.

We now get to check the progress of the strawberries and the sunflowers

they planted about 47 times a day.

No visit is complete without a trip to the zoo. We fed the giraffes, rode the train, said hi to the gorillas and visited the Keas, which tried to eat Gramma's scarf, earrings and shoes. Sadly, we did not see the silly old orangutans.

We were very fancy 'ladies who lunched' at Mrs. Teapots. Not only did we have a scrumptious lunch and some tasty teas, but we were able to get all decked out in boas and hats. Addie even got her own itty bitty china teacup to sip out of. Faaaaancy.

We took a trip to the butterfly exhibit at Krohn's Conservatory. The butterflies floated and flitted and were very beautiful. The greenhouse got a bit hot and on the way out we saw a huge butterfly sitting on the floor. Hot, little cranky pants looked up at me and said

Mama. I wanna step on it.

With the arrival of beautiful weather at the week's end, we decided to grill out and top off our

dinner with toasted marshmallows. Addie went to bed sticky and happy.

We also took a trip to the museum, munched at Zips, shopped and played. Gramma

bought a new glider for our front porch, helped me dig up over a half dozen bushes,

transplanted hostas and played in the backyard.

Gramma and Addie had tea parties and played princess. Every night they snuggled and read stories. There were picnics on the patio and cuddles on the couch. The weeks was busy, but not packed. We did a lot of laughing and gallivanting ~ and now the house seems just a little bit too quiet and empty.

Wedding Weekend

I am finally awake enough, and functioning enough, to review the grand wedding weekend. I've got some great pictures, but first, my comedy of errors is well worth sharing:


Friday started off lovely and ended lovely, but in between it was a bit rocky. Addie and I were heading to exercise, which we planned to duck out of early so that she could go to the neighbor's and I could go get my nails done with all the ladies.

• Comedic Error No. 1: On our way to exercise sweet child of mine hurled. Everywhere. All over herself. All over the car seat - chunks of putrid, curdled milk. I pulled over the the side of road, scooped out all she deposited, stripped her down and gave my poor sobbing child a wet nap bath. Once we got home she got a bath, the car seat got a hose down, I got a shower. The nails and neighbors were cancelled and we spent the day watching cartoons and cuddling.

The rehearsal went just fine. Everyone seemed relaxed. Addie was feeling good. Dinner was delish. Oh wait, did I mention that as Rick and Kim were pulling into the church parking lot Rylan also hurled, filling up his car seat. Yep.

• Comedic Error No. 2: After ushering the gentlemen out of the house to go golfing Saturday morning I quickly tidied the house and set out the food for the lunches. I threw Addie in the shower with me, packed our over night bag and ironed our clothes for the wedding. My beautiful, borrowed green dress - wrinkle free. My royal purple wrap - wrinkle free. Addie's dress - wrinkle free. Oooops - I noticed her sash needed pressing, so I did. And when I say I did, what I mean is I put the iron on the ever delicate fabric and burnt holes right through it. After a few moments of panic I simply cut the sash off. Of course as soon as I did that my darling daughter looked at me and said "Mama, you hurt my pretty dress". Yep.

Addie and I got to Brian and Kelly's house without a problem. We received the flowers, went over the inventory and made sure we had everything we needed. We stayed a few minutes longer to see the bridal party and then we took off - both to give them space and to get Addie napped.
Kiddo fell asleep on the way to the hotel and slept for almost two hours. When she woke up I put on my make up, fluffed her curls and grabbed our shoes to go get changed at Kelly's and grab the flowers for the church.

• Comedic Error No. 3: When I went to grab our shoes I discovered that I had packed one strappy high heeled sling back and one high heeled sandal. F*ck. Yes, I am pretty sure that was the word I uttered. I quickly called the husband to see if he could bring me a shoe to the church, he didn't answer, thankfully, as I probably would have ended up with three different shoes. Addie and I sped off to Target where I bought the first pair of black nice looking shoes I could find. They're fine. They scream I am a MOM and they cost me over $30. Ridiculous? Yep.

Addie and I made it to Kelly's house with time to spare. I got dressed. I got her in her tights and shoes (dress to go on in church parking lot). The bride looked stunning. The bridesmaids were beautiful. The mother of the bride was glowing.

• Not-s0-comedic Error No. 4: I get the flowers loaded into the car. I got Addie loaded into the car. I grab the programs from downstairs and I am good to go. But not so much. Somewhere in they last minutes I put the programs down, the programs that a bridesmaid designed, and I leave. We got to the church - flowers got handed out and pinned on. Flower girl and ring bearers looked adorable and were poised to go. I took a breath - and then someone asked: Jessica, where are the programs?. I can almost guarantee you that the word I uttered was the same one I said at the hotel. Panic set in? Yep.

One of the wonderful ushers grabbed directions and the garage door opener and raced off to the get the programs. He probably missed a fair chunk of the ceremony, but guests walked out of the ceremony with the programs in hand.

I think that is when I exhaled.

All the other stuff?

The bride? Gorgeous.

The groom? Beaming.

The ceremony? Tasteful and lovely.

The reception? Open bar, cake, chocolate fountain and dancing.

All that stuff, the truly important stuff, was absolutely perfect.

Now on to the pictures...

Tomorrow Uncle Brian and Aunt Kelly are getting hitched.

I can safely say that we're all thrilled that he conned Kelly into saying yes - but I can think of one little flower girl who is ecstatic.

Congratulations Uncle Brian on making one of your smartest, best decisions....

Excuses excuses

I have been spending some quality time in my car - and am about to log several more hours of car togetherness. I can barely think in full sentences, let alone type coherent paragraphs.

**Addie was diagnosed with a double ear infection last week.

**Saturday night we attended a family wedding where Addie and Rylan tore up the dance floor. They were a tornado of spinning and running and general boogey-ing.

**She and I hit the road for the Mountain State Sunday morning. We visited with my aunts and uncles, with my wonderful cousins and with Gramma Kathy. Addie played and played and harassed the cat. She took a walk with Uncle Glenn to pet a baby deer. She giggled and twirled and basically entertained the crowd.

**I am exhausted. I have 90 pounds of laundry to do. I have to pack and get ready to hit the road again tomorrow. From the quietness of West Virginia to the bustle of Chicago all in a few days.

**Addie has been accident free for longer than I know - she did excellent in the car and experienced her first roadside rest area (um, ICK).

I am being called back reality - the dryer just buzzed.

What's to Come?

Sometimes I try to imagine what Addison will be like when she's grown.

Will she be tall and willowy like her Aunt Nikki?

Will she feisty and funny like her Aunt Kimmie?

Will she have an inappropriate sense of humor and laughter that fills the room like Uncle Jeaf?

Maybe loud and silly like Uncle Brian?

Will she be a computer whiz like her Uncles Kevin and Quinn?

An organizer like her Aunt Kelly?

Will she be level headed like her daddy or moody like me?

Will she have her grandmothers' kindness or her papas' goofiness?

With any luck she'll have a little bit of each of them. But with way things are looking right now, it seems that she may have more than a bit of my baby cousin in her.

Already Addie is showing quite a disposition of sassiness, just like Jill..

She needs explicit directions to get things done, just like Jill.

I can't say Addie go put on your socks and shoes. Instead I have to give her one step instructions. Go get your shoes and socks. Put on your socks. Put on your shoes. No, sweetie, your socks and then your shoes.

I've recently learned if I rub or scratch her back she'll get still, and better yet, quiet. Just like Jill.

They both make me laugh. They both make me smile. And they both, definitely, march to their own beat.

And they seem to have the same sense of style.

Happy Birthday Jillian Stew. To quote your mother "Welcome to your 25th year".

A is for Apple

When I was growing up almost every fall would be marked by a trip to the apple orchard. In my memory, Mom would cram us (us being anyone in arms' reach) into the orange Oldsmobile or stack us into the minivan and we would drive to Kinderhook, NY.

The orchard we would go to allowed us not only to pick our own apples, but the trees were big enough that we could climb. And believe me, I was quite the tree climber as a kid. Height did not phase me. Bird nest, whatevs. Power lines, no biggie. My brother and I would scramble as high as we could, pick apples off the branches and toss them down to my mom. We would have picnics, gorge ourselves on fresh apple cider, and have rotten apple wars. The orchard we went to allowed dogs, and inevitably our silly mutt, Chemo the wonder pup, would run off and smash deer poop into her ears. Between that and the amount of cider we drank, it was often a bit of a stinky ride home.

However, once we got home it was apple recipes galore. Apple crisp, apple pie, apple sauce, and my fav, apple squares. I love everything about apple picking - the arrival of Autumn, cool air, blue skies, fallen leaves, laughter, family tradition. I love Autumn - I love jeans and long sleeve tees. I love the need for a sweatshirt in the morning. I love the smell of baking apples. And I am trying to impart this love to my little lady.

So, needless to say, I was thrilled to finally take my little Bean apple picking. The orchard we went to had gorgeous views of mountains, fresh apple cider donuts and pumpkins. The trees at the orchard were too small to climb, but that didn't deter us from having a blast. Addie plucked apples off the trees and chucked them into our bag - resulting in tons of bruised apples. The few apples that weren't bruised? Those were licked or bitten into courtesy of our little harvester.

She ran the rows of trees. She scarfed down a cider donut. She picked out a 'mama' and a 'baby' pumpkin. She watched cider ferment. And she, like me, loved it all.

My Kind of Town

Five hours up the road (okay, up a couple of roads) is Chicago. Everyone knows my love of Chicago.

College in Chicago lured me away from home. It is where I met some of my very best friends. It is where I fell in love, married my husband, bought my first home and gave birth to my daughter. Chicago taught me the how truly amazing a hot dog can be, how to be a fanatical baseball fan and the beauty of a well made martini.

Moving away broke my heart, but returning for a minute or two makes me smile from ear to ear. I love to see the fountain in Grant Park, the boats in the harbor, the sun sparkling off the skyscrapers. I love the little neighborhoods, the shopping and the energy. My family. My friends. The freaking pizza.

Me + Chicago = an endless love.

Addie and I escaped the debaucherous boys football draft in Cincinnati and fled to Chicago this past weekend. We primarily played with Grampa, Gram, Emmett et al. But we managed to sneak in a visit with some Chicago pals ~ Addie played with Sam's toys, sat on Tool's lap, learned from Karen how to put her coat on all by herself (side note: she learned this skill because in Chicago it was cool enough to require coat!) and sat outside wrapped in a Snuggie with Michael. We met Baby Seamus, scarfed down mini corn dogs at Riverview and were reminded what great friends we have.

And as much fun as we had in Chicago, we had equally as much fun hanging in Glenview. Addie scarfed down sweet treats from Gram and Grampa. She ran wild in their yard, played with the sandbox and wore off energy with her "baby" cousin Emmett.

On Saturday we went with Grampa to Wagner Farm and the Farmers Market - both of which little lady loved. At the farm Addison adored the fake cow that she could milk, the pen of roosters and geese and with the old fashioned ice cream parlor (mmmm, double chocolate milk shake).

At the market she helped herself to more than enough free samples of cheese, smelled the fresh flowers and checked out the bins of tomatoes. A perfect Saturday by our standards.

The rest of our visit centered around playing and laughing and having fun with family - all of which was done in abundance.