Dana Daily

This was a very anti-climatic New Years. We hadn't planned an evening out so there was no reason to even think of it as a holiday. However, I noticed that sometime over the last week, Seth's upper middle right tooth broke through the gum. He has 6 teeth now. My little baby is growing up. We're not complete NYE failures, we did watch the ball drop on TV. Hard to believe it was just about a month ago we were right there in Times Square.

Seth was chewing on Emmy's headband so I showed him how it's actually used. He wasn't impressed, as you can tell. Sal and I were clearing out our bedroom to make way for a new rug and the new furniture. We also cleared out and cleaned the girls' room. We moved this rug over there. It actually looks really good in their room, better than it had in ours. Seth was observing our work. I don't know why I didn't take any pictures of the girls's room, but I'm really happy with how it looks.

Sal and I treated ourselves to a honeymoon in 2014, the summer after our wedding. This year we decided to splurge a little on a new bedroom set. This is something we desperately needed since we had just been sleeping in the double bed he has had since he got his apartment in Steubenville. We were sharing the dresser, and he had the nightstand. It's also something we had been talking about buying since before our wedding, but neither one of us wanted to spend the money. Well, over the weekend we decided the time had come. Levin's was running a sale for 50% off original pricing, plus an extra $150 coupon. They also offered 0% financing for 36 months, and since I'm a fan of using someone else's money at no charge, we figured now was the time. This is the set we chose, the Maine Craftsman Georgetown Collection in Merlot.  After weighing our options, we did choose the storage bed. We can avoid buying a box spring, and we'll have some much needed space f...

Here's a snapshot of Christmas morning. Seth was looking for Santa (lower right), Emmy was modeling a scarf Santa brought her, and Sarah is busy unwrapping a gift. Santa also brought Scrabble. Sal and I play Words with Friends on our phones, but we wanted to introduce the girls to Scrabble. I love the picture of Sal trying out Emmy's new keyboard from Aunt Kathy and Uncle Ron. He's oblivious to Seth in the background climbing up the tv stand. Seth with the teething ring is especially funny. The four of us were talking and opening gifts, the usual Christmas morning stuff, and then at the same time we heard a sound coming from Seth's direction. We looked over at him and all of us cracked up. He was making slobbery mouth noises and rocking the teething ring back and forth in his mouth. It was a moment. All of the kids were up by 5am, and I texted my dad to let him know. He said my mom was still sleeping, and they didn't arrive until 7:30 or so. They stayed to...

I added the sign to the right to our Christmas decor this year. I found it online in early December and it arrived just in time for the holiday. We put it in the blank space about the computer desk. My parents came down since the sang with the children's choir at the 4pm mass today. We had a hard time keeping Seth still and quiet, but he was just doing what babies do. I don't think he really disrupted anyone around us. Then we had dinner at our house. It was my first time making a pot roast and veggies in the crockpot, and the recipe I used received rave reviews. We're putting it on our weekly menu. Shortly after dinner they headed to the Comfort Inn on McKnight with plans to come back first thing in the morning to open gifts with the kids. We had gotten them the requisite calendar of grandkids, and a gift card to the Ale House in Franklin. It's their favorite local restaurant, and they also catered our rehearsal dinner. It was yummy. The holidays are a strugg...

From The Island  by Elin Hilderbrand (page 41), It was the world's great privilege to be a mother. But God knows, it was a punishment as well. That about sums it up.

The Las Posadas is a fourth grade tradition at St. Ursula's, but with such a small class this year, the third grade was asked to participate as well. Sarah had wanted to be an angel, and was cast in that role. Then she found out that angels don't do anything, but stand there and so next year she's hoping for something better. Sarah is second from right, hands folded near her chin She was really bummed that I couldn't attend this year, but I told her someone would take pictures and make sure I saw them. That didn't exactly make up for my absence, but it helped. Las Posadas is a Latin American tradition. It's a ritual re-enactment of Mary and Joseph's search for a lodging in Bethlehem, performed just before Christmas.  A family from Peru now attends the girls' school so this is an extra special tradition now. They came to the US seeking medical treatments or a cure for one of their daughters, and stayed. A perk of performing this play ...

Seth has 15 daycare teachers over the course of his week, and we wanted to give something to each of them. I found this idea online, and thought it was not only useful, but reasonably priced. Seth's last day at daycare for the year was December 18, but with the usual holiday madness, I couldn't get the gifts pulled together by then. Sarah, Emmy, and I will drop them off at daycare tomorrow morning. I didn't take any pictures of ours, but I thought they turned out cute. On the reverse side of the tag, I hand wrote a note from Seth thanking the teacher for taking such good care of him. I hope the teachers like them.

Sal and I were invited to a wedding this weekend, and had made arrangements with my mom for her to watch Seth overnight for us. We were going to go attend the wedding, and from there go to the Provenzano Christmas Party where Sal plays the drums every year. On Sunday when we picked Seth up the plan was to tour the mansions at Miller Park in Franklin. None of that happened. Last Saturday Sal's back started hurting when he got out of the car before the Steubenville Christmas parade. He made it through the parade okay, but when he got home it was really hurting. He went to work and the chiropractor on Monday, and again on Wednesday, but got no relief. By Thursday night he was in excruciating pain, and on Friday morning he couldn't stand. I got him in to see my doctor who gave him prescriptions for Ibuprofen and a muscle relaxer. He also suggested having x-rays done, and we decided to try my chiropractor as well. Basically, it appears as though Sal's lower back has lost t...

Another month has come and gone. Seth is growing and learning more each and every day. We've hit a rough patch as far as sleeping goes which seems to happen every time he gets a month older, but I think this time it's related to teething. His upper middle right tooth poked through, and the left is right behind it. Meanwhile the upper lateral incisors are continuing to work their way down. Poor baby is a mess. Seth continues to gag on table foods so we're continuing purees. Both daycare and our pediatrician have said that this is normal for some kids. We need to continue offering table food, and one day he'll just "get it." Because he likes a wide variety of purees and will play with food on his tray, Dr. Bhat has ruled out a textures issue. So, I guess we'll just roll with it. Now for what he IS doing: He points. The first time I saw him do it, I thought it was a fluke. He claps. He drums. Yes, he smacks the table or any surface really, and we p...

I don't know if I've mentioned previously that Sarah and Emmy decided to join St. Ursula's Pep Squad this year. It's open to girls in grades 2 through 4 and it's basically "cheerleading light." The girls cheer from the stands except at halftime when they perform a mini-show on the court. Sarah likes it. Emmy loves it. You could see the excitement in her face. She loved every second. St. Ursula uses Hampton Middle School court as their home location, and the girls only cheer at the boy's varsity games. The games only last about an hour as well. This is a manageable schedule. Emmy is not one to seek attention, but she shined on the court during their halftime show. She was the loudest of the five girls as they introduced themselves and she rocked it. I'm debating on whether or not she's interested enough to try gymnastics, but I dread having that conversation with her dad. I can't remember the final score, but St. Ursula's came ou...

Emmy had a sleepover with her friend this evening. Her mom sent me a few pictures throughout the evening. She had a wonderful time. A highlight was a late night (8:30pm) walk with the dog around the neighborhood to check out the Christmas lights. With the beautiful weather we've been having, temps well in the 60s during the day, this was a real treat. One thing I noticed is that Sarah is continually overshadowed by Sarah. I couldn't believe how much Sarah had to say and all the things she wanted to talk about. I need to be more mindful of this.

Sal really wanted a live Christmas tree this year, and for no other reason except that I love him, I consented. I asked him in that meant we needed to go to a Christmas tree farm and cut down a tree and he said no. To make this as easy and painless as possible, we went to McTighe's Garden Center. I like McTighe's for flowers in the spring so I assumed their trees would be nice as well. It's also just a quick trip from our house. There were plenty of trees to choose from, and I gravitated to the Concolor Firs. The needles are silvery green and the branches are a little more sparse than some of the other types. I realized later this species has a vintage type feel about them. They also have a pleasing citrus/pine scent. As a bonus the Concolor is a dollar less per foot as well. Nobody took issue with the tree that I declared perfect so the sales guy got it wrapped up and tied it down to the roof of the car. I love this picture of Sarah and Emmy looking through the win...

The photographer who took Seth's newborn pictures was offering Christmas mini-sessions at Hartwood Acres on November 14 so we jumped at the chance. I really like Sarah as a person, and she is an exceptionally talented photographer. I guess between Seth's surgery and our Thanksgiving travels, I'm just now getting a chance to post a few of my favorites. I ordered Christmas cards already, and if you haven't received on from us, a screenshot of it will be posted later this month closer to Christmas. Since I didn't have Sarah create the cards for us, we have a $25 credit toward a photography session in 2016.

After Mass on Saturday evening, I noticed that Seth had two more teeth pop. That would explain why he's been pulling on his ears even though they're not infected. These most recent two are the upper lateral incisors. His middle top teeth, central incisors officially, haven't erupted, but the side ones did. I'm not even sure when they came through, but they're well on their way to being in place so I missed it by at least a week, maybe longer. I'm glad it hasn't been a horrible process for him, but I'm sorry I don't have more complete records for his baby book.

Today was the day for Franklin's first annual Historic Church Tours and Caroling Walk. Six sanctuaries were open to the public from 1:30-4:30 for free tours, and carolers were singing from church to church throughout the afternoon, if you so choose to participate in that.  I headed up to Franklin with Seth while Seth headed to Columbus with Steubenville High School's marching band for the state championship game (they ended up losing 31-28). My mom and I decided to do the church tour and opted to go at our own pace, rather than with a group of carolers. I felt we were on borrowed time with Seth who would be needing a nap at some point in the afternoon. The first church we stopped at was the First Presbyterian. I didn't take any pictures here, but the style of it reminded me of St. Patrick Church, my home parish. I was surprised to see the writers of the gospels portrayed in the stained glass, but it was interesting to note that they appear on the same plane as Jesu...

 Seth is thinking. Aaaaah, a sister. Donk Donk Donk.

This should say, "Musician's Wife." I didn't choose this crazy nonsense, like my music teacher husband did. I have no idea when we're going to get a Christmas tree or bake cookies.

Today is Sal's 45th birthday. He's like a fine wine, better with time. I gave him his favorite shaving supplies, and a birthday cake. We also went to Friday's for dinner, with Seth. This was his first birthday as a Daddy, and I hope that makes it extra special.

Yep, two years. Sal and I have been married two glorious years today. It's amazing how wonderful marriage can be when you're in it with the right person. Unfortunately, Sal had to work today, but I took the day off and actually had a fun day with all three kids. I wrapped Sal's gifts, tucked them in a bag, and filled it with cotton balls instead of tissue paper. I gave him a Duke Ellington at the COTTON Club CD, a pair of drumstick pencils, and a dual (TWO) CD compilation of classical songs. That was a CD that he had put on his Amazon wish list so I just ordered it from there. Easy Peasy. Sal gave me cotton pillowcases, as shown, and a gift card to Willow. Date night!! After we got Seth tucked into bed for the night we watched 90 Day Fiance , our favorite train wreck, and sipped some peach wine. We had an awesome evening.

What a long day. We should have had a three hour drive today. Instead it took us about five. Stop to pee, stop to eat, finally enough is enough we're not stopping again. I asked them what their favorite part of vacation was. "EVERYTHING!" Success. Now, to start the mountain of laundry, but not until after we switch out the batteries in the thermostat. Argh. It's always something.

As much as I wanted the girls to experience Times Square, the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island were our main reasons for detouring through New York City. I found out last year that the third grade at the girls' school does a unit on the statue in May. It was an obvious destination choice. The hotel did not have a complimentary breakfast and I wanted to make sure we knew where we needed to be to catch the ferry for the islands. We had tickets for 9am so we had no time to waste. The valet brought our car and we drove the few miles to the pier. As luck would have it there's a diner near the ferry landing. This picture was taken before Seth gave Sal's glass of orange juice a swipe and spilled it everywhere. Ah, kids. After breakfast we stood in line and waited for the ferry that was running about 30 minutes behind schedule. Eventually it arrived, and we headed to Ellis Island. We spent a lot more time there than I had planned. I thought we'd be there an hour or so...

We had a busy day planned, and our first stop was The Breakers in Newport, Rhode Island. I've always thought it would be cool to tour these mansions, and to see The Breakers at Christmastime was amazing. This was the Vanderbilt Family's summer cottage, and took only two years to build and decorate. Prior to visiting, I read online that the kids version of the tour was really good so we hooked the girls up with their own listening devices, while Sal and I opted for the adult tour. I didn't hear any complaints from the girls during the tour, and afterwards they said they loved it. Our tour was pretty amazing as well. I expected the mansion to be big and expansive. I didn't expect it to be so opulent. Maybe someday we'll have the chance to tour the other mansions, but I've heard that once you tour The Breakers, the other mansions just aren't as impressive. We were allowed to take one photo inside the house, and only of the Christmas tree. From a distan...

We arrived at Sal's aunt and uncle's house around 9:30. It seemed like Thanksgiving dinner was well on its way. We watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, visited, and the kids played. We had a delicious meal that included turkey, ham, stuffing, mashed potatoes, turnips and carrots, rolls, cranberry sauce, and desserts galore. Seth slept through dinner, poor tired baby, and Sal's cousin, Victoria, snapped the picture below of him while he had his own Thanksgiving feast when he woke up. He looks so much older to me here, like a toddler even. Victoria is holding Seth in the picture above, and Uncle Joe and Aunt Doreen are standing next to Sal and I. Cousin Joey is in the orange shirt, and a family friend named Jackie is in front of him. Jackie is in her 80s and as a hobby dances at nursing homes to entertain the residents. Emmy wanted Jackie to show her some dance moves, and told her all about cheerleading. We had a really nice day, and loved being able to spend...

This is what happens when two history nerds get married. . .they drive 45 minutes out of the way to see a statue. Sybil Ludington's story doesn't make history books like Paul Revere's, but it's a similar tale. She was a 16yo girl from New York who rode through the countryside in April of 1777 to rally "American" forces to stop the British advance in the colonies. She rode more than twice as far as Revere, but since no one wrote a poem about her ride, it's not something schoolchildren learn. Sal and I have seen a couple shows / documentaries on the history channel where she was mentioned and they always show a statue. We knew it was in New York and when we saw how close it was to our route to New England it was obvious we had to go there. The statue is located in Carmel , a tiny town located near Danbury, Connecticut. I researched the statue and knew it was placed by Lake Gleneida . Not having the coordinates or exact location of the statue, we had a...

Last year we had planned to go to New York City around Thanksgiving, but I was pregnant and diagnosed with placenta previa and my doctor was strongly against traveling that far. So, we postponed our trip. This year, we decided to add a few days to our original plans and visit Sal's family near Providence, Rhode Island. Sal's last day of school for the week was today so we signed the girls out of school for Wednesday, and headed toward New England. We spent the night at a Comfort Inn in Mifflinville, PA. Not quite half of the driving distance was behind us, but we were tired and needed to get out of the car. Tomorrow, onward to Pawtucket.

Having been through ENT surgery with two other kids, I had a pretty good idea of what to expect. I also really like Dr. Kitsko so I knew Seth was in good hands. Seth's arrival time for surgery was 6:30am. He made it through fasting just fine. Seth hasn't had much of an appetite with these ear infections anyway so that made it easier, I think. They checked us in, gave me the rundown about what would happen and the risks associated with anesthesia, and then they let him play in the waiting room for a little while. I was a bundle of nervous energy about the anesthesia, then I just felt bad because he had no idea why any of this was happening, and there was the unknown about recovery. Would he have issues like Sarah did following surgery (vomiting) or would he just wake up and be himself. I still remember the anxiety of not knowing and the anticipation. They finally took him back right around 7:30. The nurses told me Dr. Kitsko would come out to talk to me in about 10 minutes...

I picked up my new rental yesterday after work. It's a fully-loaded Toyota Avalon. I love the heated seats, the electronic admission, and pretty much everything about it, except the fact that it's a car and not something bigger. I had my heart set on a minivan, but it was not to be. Option 2 was a GMC Acadia, but I didn't think Sal would appreciate navigating it around NYC, so I opted for the smaller option. It IS a nice car, but not one I'd want in real life. All the upgrades and electronics are nice in a car that I don't have to worry about having maintenanced. Not the best picture, but it's black with a tan and black leather interior. On an exciting note, we had Thanksgiving dinner for lunch today. Of course it's not the real deal, but it's a decent warm-up to next Thursday. And, my last update of the day is that the surgery center called and Seth is scheduled for tubes tomorrow morning at 6:45. Actually, that's our arrival time, surgery p...

As much as I love this month for the sentimental value it holds, All the wonderful memories of Thanksgivings spent on my grandparents' farm Meeting Sal (both online and in person) Our wedding anniversary, this November has been quite a treat. All before 8am this past Sunday, Sal got sick, Seth pulled a ceramic pumpkin off the table which then smashed onto the floor in three pieces, and then he got sick. Sal and Seth pretty much spent the day on the couch. Monday morning I wrecked my car when I ran into the back of a school bus after dropping the girls off at school. Seth and I were fine and fortunately, we have good insurance so getting into a rental was painless. I have a four door, F150 pick-up truck, which I actually like. I'm switching it out this evening though for a family vehicle that we'll be able to take with us to Massachusetts and New York next week. I wasn't loving the idea of a road trip that far in my SUV so I'm looking at this as a ble...

Well, it's official, Seth has been out longer than he was in. Happy 9 Months to my sweet, adorable little boy. Just like mommy, he seems to be in denial about this latest birthday. He even tried to erase the message on his chalkboard. Ah well, the fact of the matter remains. He IS another month older and growing so much every single day. He had his first taste of cooked potato and scrambled eggs over the weekend. He didn't love either of them. He still hasn't mastered putting food in his mouth, although everything he's not supposed to eat seems to find its way there; wires, our fingers, toys that belong to the girls, etc. He still crawls on his belly, rather than up on hands and knees, but I attribute this in part to our hardwood floors and his long pants - it's slippery. His sleeping hasn't been consistent or the best lately, but I think he had a bug over the weekend, and of course his ear infection remains an ongoing battle. The general discomfort ma...