Friday Fotos

This is my version of "Wordless Wednesdays", since it's Friday and I can't guarantee that it will be "wordless."


G's first ride on the carousel.

A rose among...petunias (and marigolds).

Our office is moving next month. Yesterday we packed some important stuff.

G is making sure her toys get moved too!

Daddy will be happy to know G is already a Stephen King fan.

Danger, danger everywhere!

Seasoned parents have been telling me for months (at least 8) that I have it easy and that when G learns to move on her own-that's when parenting an infant gets tough. Boy were they right!! G started crawling a couple of weeks ago. She is so cute scooting around with her little tush wiggling behind her. Exactly two days after she learned to crawl, she decided that wasn't enough and learned to climb. Her first conquest was the lower shelf on the microwave cart which she climbed right up on, no problem. Next, not satisfied with those two new skills and having watched Monroe standing, she decided to learn how to do that too. She pulls herself to standing on everything.

G climbed over that chair rail to get in there. If the pic wasn't so dark you could see how proud she is of herself.


So, now I have a crawling, climbing, standing hurricane. She is everywhere. I thought I was tired before...late nights/early mornings, endless diaper changes with a squirmy baby, desperately hoping for a nap (for both of us!), creatively trying to get her to eat something...now I have all of that plus watching her every second, worrying about all the dangerous possibilities around the house and office, catching her/not catching her when she falls, soothing booboos, trying to make sure she doesn't kill herself. Last night she got her first fat lip. She was attempting to pull herself up on one of her toy baskets which fell over and then she fell over and somehow bit her lip. It was a bleeder. Little toughie that she is, she only cried for about 15 seconds. She sucked on a wet washcloth for a minute and then was back at it.

It took me about an hour to write this post. Not because I couldn't think of what to write, but because Giuliana fell over twice, tried to climb over her walker, bumped her head(now I see why people think this is a good idea)...had a bottle, fought a nap and fell asleep. This was a fairly productive hour for me! I'm exhausted and it's only 10am.

We have done our best to baby proof. We still have to purchase a couple of baby gates for the stairs and cut a hole in the basement door so the cats can go in and out but the door can stay closed. I created a makeshift baby barricade in my office which keeps her corralled for the most part and also provides interesting things to stand on/try to climb over.


She is supposed to be on the other side of that walker. I was trying to get a picture of her climbing over her barricade, but she was too fast. I've shored it up now!

The other day I was saying to John that I am anxious for G to learn to walk because it seems less dangerous. John was like, what are you saying! That will only give her more height to get into/onto more things! He's right. I have a feeling we are just getting started.

G, learning new things

Hey, Mama!

Exploring her world. So many books to chew, I mean read.


Blueberry picking with Aunt Gina and kids.


Learning to crawl...off she goes.


First time in the sandbox.


New shoes.


What the heck am I supposed to do with these things? Can I chew them off?


G and her new toothbrush...she's a pro already!

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Learning to stand....STAND !!

General Hospital, Take 2

After a gloriously relaxing weekend in peaceful Vermont, John ended it with a very unrelaxing and unpeaceful trip to BGH ER. He was admitted again with horrible abdominal pain that continues to be undiagnosed. Tuesday the on-call GI doc did a procedure to remove a stent that had been placed in John's common bile duct last month. The stent was supposed to fall out a couple of weeks ago but didn't and the doctor admitted that he didn't have any other ideas about what to do for John. Unfortunately, so far it doesn't seem like the procedure has helped at all with John's pain. John was released from the hospital on Wednesday in just about as much pain as he went in with and a small, low dose of pain meds. He spent the next two days trying to get any doctor to listen to him that he was still in pain and the meds weren't sufficient. However, at this point, none of the doctors seem to care, or at least that's how they act. What is it about doctors that they don't listen!? And, what is even more infuriating is the arrogant attitude they throw you when they can't figure out what is wrong with you...so it must be your fault for still being sick, or worse, you must just be a junkie looking for a narcotic! Needless to say, John has had it with doctors and the medical community in general. So, he has decided that for now, he is just done with them and will find ways to live with the pain. It really shouldn't be like this. I have a whole new appreciation for the families that I work with who have to go from doctor to doctor just to try to get a diagnosis for their developmentally disabled kids. And the humiliation and frustration they feel when people don't listen, when they have to repeat their stories a million times, when they have to endure test after test with no results...what a messed up system!


A gratuitous pic of my hot hubs, from Easter, since I don't have many of him on here.

A weekend in Vermont

So, we left Binghamton at about 6:30pm on Friday with Giuliana fed and asleep in the back, Max hyped up in the way back (I love that phrase, "the way back" it just sounds like childhood good times! I'm so glad we have a way back) and the car literally stuffed to the gills with everything we could possibly need for the next 6 weeks! The drive to Plainfield, VT took about 5 hours; unfortunately we didn't see much of the beautiful VT scenery as we drove through the windy, twisty roads.
Jeff and Sarah and Monroe's home, in the New Hamburger Community (but not a commune) is just so perfect for the Swift-Phillips clan, so neo-hippie Vermont. The houses are all hand built, set into the woods like they just sprang up organically there. What a peaceful place to relax with good friends.





Jeff with Monroe and John with Giuliana, Saturday morning.

Saturday morning was yummy homemade zucchini bread and Jeff's whatever's in the fridge quiche, and adorable babies playing.



G was so impressed with Monroe's standing! She decided that she could do it too, and has been pulling up on things all week since!

We had a great trip to the Montpelier Farmer's Market where were Sarah stocked up on locally grown produce that she turned into a delicious and creative dinner. And we enjoyed pizza from a portable oven and Jamaican somosas. I bought G a cute baby apron recycled from an old shirt. (That reminds me, Kate, we may still owe you $8!) And Sarah talked me into purchasing goat's milk caramel, which turned out to be unbelievably good! Thanks, Sarah.


Then we walked around Montpelier, the smallest state capital in the US. It was like a smaller version of Ithaca. I had to take a picture of this building on a bridge...looks like something from Europe somewhere.




Saturday afternoon was a surprisingly energetic hike in the woods to the dilapidated treehouses that were built in the early 70's for the New Hamburger transients (yeah, not a commune). I say it was energetic because when Sarah suggested it, she neglected to mention that it was a 20 minute hike up hill in the wet, soggy woods, in flipflops. With about 500million mosquitoes. Anyhoo, after that, more babies playing and general good times hanging out with friends, and making the delicious dinner I mentioned before. Chopping veggies is so cathartic, don't you think? Especially smashing and mincing garlic :)

I don't have any pics, but Max had the time of his life wrestling with the other dogs and running freely through the woods. He and Duke had a few scuffles but they'll work it out.

Unfortunately, Saturday night didn't end well for John. He had some more severe abdominal attacks after dinner. We almost had to try out Vermont's emergency room. But he was able to get it under control enough to just go to bed early and wait till morning. Sunday, after more babies playing, we left early for a loooooooooong trip home (almost 7 hours altogether). At least we got to enjoy the scenic VT drive. Even though John ended up having to go to the hospital late Sunday night it was a great weekend full of yummy food, nature, guitar/mandolin/banjo music, dogs romping, and babies playing.

Just G

I know I need to post a long post about this past weekend in VT and then our hospital drama, take 2. But for now, just the most beautiful picture of G...even if it is about 4 months old now.

Am I cool enough?

Having a blog just seems like something the "cool people" do. You know who I mean, the ones with all the interesting things to say, funny ways to say it, interesting hobbies, beautiful kids and artsy photos. Well, I have the requisite beautiful kid, name-sake of this blog, the gorgeous G herself, but I don't know about all that other stuff. See what I mean? I think I'm gonna need a thesaurus..."stuff", better come up with a more interesting word!
Anyway, nothing like beginning my new blog with a positive approach, right? So, why am I here?

Back to the beautiful kid. She inspires me. I've had lots of inspiration in my life. I can be a pretty creative person, and that takes some kind of inspiration. But when you create a kid you find a whole new world of inspiration. That's why people go on and on about their kids till anybody listening would prefer to not be listening anymore. So, you can all listen here and when you choose not to listen anymore, you can go away. I can't imagine why you would ever want to go away if I'm talking about G, though, she's great! She has already taught me more about life than I ever thought I'd learn in her entire childhood...and she's only eight months old! I say "only eight months" but really, who can remember life before G ( pre-G?? PG?) and yet, how can she POSSIBLY BE 8 MONTHS OLD ALREADY, FOR PETE'S SAKE!! Anyway, she daily reminds me that everything in life is interesting, and everything should be explored with wonder. Good lessons, I think. She's so smart that little girl!

Right now she is exploring a book. She has been exploring that book all day, off and on. She keeps opening it, closing it, looking at it, chewing it, smiling at it, waving to it, and then doing all of that all over again. Then she goes and explores something else. Then back to the book. The book, apparently, is interesting. That's life when you're eight months old. What fun!! And that's what this blog is about. What G sees with her blue eyes, and what she shows me, and our fun, interesting life together, exploring!

Will it be cool? We'll see...guess it doesn't really matter after all. Thanks, G! See what I mean, she is teaching me all the time.