Sox Trade Manny!

Unbelievable trade by the Sox today (not to Green Bay but to the Dodgers) but Manny really forced their hand and got what he wanted. We'll see if he still wants it a week from now. He'll probably be crying that he wants to come back to Boston just like he did when he left Cleveland to join the Sox for the '01 season.

The Sox got Jason Bay from Pittsburgh and also had to give up 2 young prospects:
relief pitcher Craig Hansen and OF Brandon Moss. I think Moss was the better of those 2 but I guess it doesn't matter anymore.

Sox fans all knew Manny was a head case when Duquette signed him in late 2000 and were a little wary of the potential $200M deal but it worked out better then we could have hoped with the 2 World Series wins in '04 and '07, and Manny winning the WS MVP in '04.

But the way it ended sucks. I'm sure Yankee fans are happier today than Sox fans

So long Manny--Have fun playing for Joe Torre.
Hope he doesn't make you cut your hair!

Texas Trip

We went to Texas over July 4th weekend to celebrate my dad's 70th birthday and my brother Gary's promotion to Colonel in the Army. We've been back for over 2 weeks - here's a long overdue Texas-sized posting with lots of pictures.

We went to the airport with Aunty Helen & Uncle Martin

and flew to Austin where we stayed with Aunty Geegy & Pepere Gerry

and on Saturday Mom & Reg flew in from Florida.

On Sunday we drove to outside of San Antonio to see Uncle Gary & Aunt Jojo

and cousin Sarah, here with Pepere

Gary had the smoker up & running at 4AM & made LOTS of meat, including beef brisket and these awesome baby back ribs, per Irene's request, which we ate the next day too:

then we had cake--Red Sox themed, of course.

Aunty Geegy thought she had a new dog when this chihuahua
showed up but the owner came looking for her just before we left.On Monday we went swimming at Barton Springs in Austin. The water bubbles up from underground at 65 degrees year-round. Guess who thought that was too cold?

Then we visited my G'town buddy Morty & finally got to

meet his daughter Grace (of Gracie's Crib fame)

Then we posed for picturesand then relaxed with a cold, tasty beverage

OK, not really. She didn't have any beer--I swear.
We all know she only drinks Knob Creek.

Then, on Tuesday my brother Gary got pinned with his silver wings as he was promoted to full bird Colonel (he was a Lieutenant Colonel before). We weren't able to to attend the ceremony because we were flying back that morning, but we could not be more proud to have such a high ranking officer in the family

Congratulations, Big Gar!

Sick with colds

We all survived the heat of Texas. It was a great visit, seeing everyone to celebrate Gerry's 70th birthday and Gary's promotion. The whole family has been sick with a cold since getting home. We're all trying to recover so we'll try to post photos and videos once we're all feeling better.

Two Teeth!

As you may have noticed on some of the recent pics on here, Iris now has two teeth, and no longer looks like Gummy Joe on the Simpsons.

THIS:
NOT THIS:
I'll buy a beverage of your choice for whoever's the first person
to post in the comments what Gummy Joe calls his tooth.

Busy Week

Last weekend we were very busy and it has continued into this week, with Irene's sisters visiting, driving down to Portland, Fred's 2nd aqua rehab visit (of 8 for his bum knee) we were go-go-go all weeekend. Here are some of the highlights:

Here's a video of Freddy on the treadmill in the hydrotherapy tank. (yeah, I know, we're getting the cat hydrotherapy. It's Fred--what can I say?)


And here's one of our nephew Ryan breaking a board blindfolded during a Tae Kwon Do demonstration (he has a black belt!)


And here's your weekly dose of Iris photos, on a swing down in Portland and enjoying some sweet potatoes. I think the second one here is my new favorite pic of Iris - I just love her expression in it--she's like "Don't BS me, dad!"

JJ= Cate Walsh!

Cate Viola Walsh was born on Saturday. Here's the entry from the Walsh family blog:

She was born yesterday, 6/21, which was both her due date and our 11th wedding anniversary. We've named her Cate. Here's a picture:

She was 7 lbs 7 ozs, 20 inches long. We're home now -- the hospital visit turned out to be 2 days long, but that was only because we were there for a day beforehand for some light induction.

Ain't she sweet?
Congratulations to the Walsh family from the Martel family!!!

Happy 7 Months Iris! (tomorrow); JJ Walsh Update

Iris turns 7 months old on Saturday - she's really getting up there isn't she?

Here's your JJ Walsh update: JJ is due tomorrow but will be induced at 5PM today EDT because of her mom's raised BP (this all sounds very familiar to Irene and me). Visit Walsh Boulevard for more updates. We're sending happy thoughts to all the Walshes: JJ, mom Julie, brother Jackson and dad Keith.

Here are a couple pics of Iris from this morning--her 2nd day with Aunty Helen, who's now also known as Nanny Helen. (Helen took the first two about 10 minutes apart)

Sad time :(
Happy time! :)
(Too bad it's too late to cast for a baby Joker in the new Batman movie)
Sleepy time x)

Iris Feeling Better

We probably would have brought Iris in to day care today but her Aunty Helen volunteered to keep an eye on her. Looks like they're having a good day together - here are a couple pics Helen took with her iphoneYou can see her tooth in the second one. We called the day care to let them know she's staying home another day & found out that a LOT of the kids there are sick with the same stomach bug that got Iris, me and Helen so sick. So we may keep her home tomorrow as well, just to be safe. Hopefully the coast will be clear on Monday.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Celtics are Champs!

Iris finally got to see one her teams win a championship, and it took almost 7 months of her life. She doesn't own any Celtics gear yet but daddy will take care of that soon.

In other news, I am back at work, while Irene is home taking care of Iris and her Aunty Helen who are both still under the weather. Poor Iris -- she's been pukey and poopy for almost a week already. When I brought her to the doctor on Monday he said it's not uncommon for babies to take 7-10 days to get over a stomach bug, while adults might take only a couple days.

The most important thing is to keep her eating and well-hydrated, and as long as she has wet eyes and mouth, and a wet diaper at least every 8 hours, (which she has so far), she's doing okay. Still, it seems like she's been sick forever and she's not doing any better this morning than she was on Monday, which is a real bummer.

Another one down for the count

My sister, Helen, came out to Seattle for the chance to hang out with her niece. Little did she know that she would succumb to the stomach bug that got Jim and Iris sick. It did take her 3 days before she started puking. So now, Jim, Iris and Helen are home recovering while I'm at work.

Jim and Helen gets to enjoy a bland diet (if they're able to eat) while they wait for their tummies to feel better. I'm happy to that Iris hasn't lost her appetite at all; we're just concerned that she stays hydrated. She was sent home on Monday midday because she had diarrhea. I guess we were pushing our luck yesterday after she woke up on Sunday morning with a horrific blowout-of-all-blowout diaper. It took all three of us to get her cleaned up, changed, and bathed -- all before 7am. Luckily she hasn't had any episodes at home since being sent home sick.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I don't come down with the bug. My sister Sheila and Helen's husband, Martin, arrives for a visit this Friday. We're all supposed to go visit our other sister, Shirley, in Portland over the weekend. Let's hope this doesn't become an epidemic.

Feeling blue

We finally get nice weather in Seattle, and Jim and Iris are both home sick. Iris left daycare early Friday afternoon after throwing up twice. She hasn't been able to keep down any fluids yesterday. She's feeling better today, but I'm limiting the amount of time she can breastfeed. Somehow, she passed the bug to Jim or he got food poisoning, but he's the sickest I've ever see him. When Iris and Jim aren't cautiously eating, they're asleep. Luckily for me, Helen is in town to keep me company. Sorry for her that Jim and Iris are sick.

My first Fathers Day Card

Iris made me this card with some help from Fay at her daycare

Ain't she cute?

In other Iris news, she's had quite a busy June so far: first taste of real food (rice cereal), she's now sleeping in the crib that we finally put together, and last but not least, she got her first tooth! It's one of the bottom middle ones, and the one next to it is coming in also. I'll post pics of the feeding & crib sometime this weekend. We haven't been able to get one of the tooth yet but will keep trying

Chilly in Seattle today, HOT everywhere else. Where's JJ?

We've barely cracked the 50s today in Seattle, compared to the 90s and 100s lots of our east coast friends and family members are suffering through.

Our friends the Walshes in Norfolk, VA are expecting baby #2 to show up any minute now, and it's 100 there today. (Their new baby is also nicknamed JJ, like Iris was, but theirs is Julie Jr.) Lucky for them they have AC, and it'll only be 85 tomorrow. Maybe JJ will wait for it to cool off some before making her appearance.

Here's a screenshot from my google homepage

Jacoby Damon

Here's Jacoby Ellsbury doing his best Johnny Damon impression (just like Coco Crisp did once) and badly misplaying a ball in the Red Sox' 6-3 loss at Baltimore last night. It resulted in a 3 run double, which is a wicked bummah

Seattle from a seaplane

A few weeks ago Jim went up in a seaplane with our friends, Rob and Lorraine. Here are photos from the ride.

Iris's First Red Sox Game, 6-Month Check-up, Mom & Dad's 8th Anniversary

Well it's sure been a busy day. Iris saw the Red Sox in person for the first time last night & they beat the Mariners 5-3. Coincidentally, Iris's mom & dad (plus Pepere and Aunty Geegy) also saw the Red Sox last year on Memorial Day, when they beat the Indians 5-3 in Fenway. Papelbon pitched the 9th & got scored on in both games too, though he gave up 1 run last year and 2 this year. Let's hope this season ends just like last year did too. Here's a shot of the Sox' newest fan:

(Iris appears smaller than actual size here--

those are our friend Ben's hands, and he's 6'7")

Iris had her 6 month check up on Tuesday & toughed out 3 more shots. Her doctor says she's doing well and we can start introducing solids in the near future.

Here are her stats from birth, 2, 4, and 6 months:

Birth
Length 19.5"
Weight 6 lbs, 15.4 ozs.

2 months
Length 22.25"
Weight 10 lbs, 8 ozs.

4 months
Length 23.75" (between 25th-50th percentile)
Weight 12 lbs, 5.5 ozs. (25th)
Cranium 42.75cm (90-95th)

6 months
Length 24.75" (between 10th-25th percentile)
Weight 14 lbs, 12.5 ozs. (25th-50th)
Cranium 45.25 cm (95th+)

As you can see, our girl is tops when it comes to cranium size.

We also bought a new car yesterday - a 2008 Nissan Altima. Our first family sedan, in a lovely sedate shade of gray. We like it a lot though - lots bigger than our old car and gets better mileage too. Sooner or later we hope to be able to fit it into the garage on the first try too.

lastly - happy 8th Anniversary baby! Hard to believe it's gone by as fast as it has, huh?

Here's one more of our little sweetie,
taken with her Aunty Geegy's iphone

Giggly Iris

Irene got Iris to laugh a lot today by doing pretend sneezes and I video'd her with my cellphone (which is why the clip is so short and low-resolution)

Freddy update; Project ipod update

Freddy's bum knee has been quite an issue in our house. He's been on some pain killers which give him constipation, and when he does finally do his evil business, he hasn't always been able to find the box. It was really bad in the wee hours of Tuesday morning when I came down to check on him & he was asleep on top of some dirty nuggets right on his tuffet. I cleaned him and the tuffet up & put him back to bed.

Thankfully, his knee seems to have improved somewhat and he's getting around the house much better--even jumping up to sleep in our bed during the day, so he hasn't had to take any more of Dr. Spaceman's pain pills for a few days and he's been much more successful at finding/using the box for his scud missiles. We're taking him to the vet again Saturday morning & hope that he'll be doing even better by then. Thanks to everyone who's asked about him--we all appreciate your concern.

Ipod project update:
I filled up my 80Gig ipod a couple weeks ago and seem to be in the homestretch of my quest to listen to all the songs on it from A to Z.

Right now song #14763 (of 16383) is playing. It's "Velvet Snow" by Kings of Leon, from their Aha Shake Heartbreak cd. A good album, I say. If you were asking, I mean.

This means I have 1620 songs left - the end is in sight! Hopefully by the end of 2008 my quest will be complete. oops--it just switched to "Venice Queen" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. That means only 1619 to go!

Six Months Old!

Iris is six months old today.Happy Half-Birthday baby!

April visitors

Here are some way way overdue pics of our April visitors

Here's Iris with her Uncle Jack. His real name is John but I always call him ML.
Here they are playing Wii.
She & Uncle Jack bowled 6 straight strikes together--
I bet you didn't know she was such a good bowler!

ML came up with his son Reed (youngest of 3).
Iris hopes to meet her other 2 cousins Will & Luke soon!My mom (Iris's Memere) also visited in Apriland here's one of Iris and Irene at one of our early season Mariner games at Safeco Field

Our friends Lorraine and Rob from Ireland also visited us in April--
I'll post pics of their visit soon!