Here Comes Finny Cotton tail....

Hopping down the bunny trail. And by bunny trail we mean I-95 South to the LeMay's in Washington D.C. We had a quick trip down at the last minute, which turned out great because we saw all the Dunnes and also got a bonus visit from Matt B. and Lisa...they drove Jerbear up from North Carolina and stayed over one night. Kelley and Tara came down the next day to completely fill the house with sugar addled kids. In response, we handed out more chocolate. We also went to a BBQ celebration at John and Monica's (they are good friends of the LeMays). John became a Catholic over Easter weekend (congrats, John!). Molly and I didn't attend John's Mass because we needed to babysit the younger kids...and we thought watching one was hard. It was like a triage unit.

The next day we went to Mass and just made it inside the door...it was crazy. It was like seeing Easter Mass in Penn Station...people pushing and shoving, talking in a dozen different languages, we even had one woman faint and be carried out. Finn found his Easter basket and enjoyed (sort of) a peep. He was more interested in the grass than the candy...I am starting to wonder if he is actually my son. The good news is that even though Finn only eats bottles we got enough candy to feed a couple of teenagers -- and it all gets added to Dad's basket. Thanks, Finn. We also did an egg hunt out on the front yard and had some great meals. All around a great trip and an awesome time hanging out with family. Heck, we even Skyped with Godfather Kevin and Uncle Joe Cron out in California. It was fun to get together with everyone and we look forward to the next get together.

March Madness

Slowly but surely, Phineas has recovered from the profound disappointment of BC's first round loss to the University of Spoiled Children (USC Trojans). There was a night of tears, followed by the begrudging admittance that the Big Least conference is having a very good tournament. We did love the Villanova game. The only thing that interrupted our non stop parade of basketball awesomeness was hosting some great visitors this weekend.

First, Hosana and Grandpa Bracken stopped by on their way to see Twelfth Night at the McCarter theater. They got to have a pre dinner meal with Finn before heading out to see what is supposed to be a fantastic, hipster staging of the Shakespeare classic.

On Sunday, Bill and Wendy drove down from central New York to kick off a week in the city. We had a great visit with them and walked to Shanghai Park to get some pork and crab meat soup dumplings...love those. We were pleased to provide Bill with the first Guinness of his vacation. Wendy does a really cool "Photo of the Day" blog and although I tried to compete with some "artistic" shots of our lunch, she says she is going with a shot of Finn to represent the day. Check out her blog at:

http://wide-angle-lens.blogspot.com/

She has some really fantastic photos on her site. I am also put to shame by her ability to successfully do a post a day on her blog. That said, I am getting better. Baby steps, baby steps....

Bananas for Bananas

Finn took the plunge and moved up the food pyramid from a bottle diet to solid food. That is if you consider pureed bananas solid food. Since it did involve a spoon and a bowl we will give him the benefit of the doubt. It took some selling; he was definitely against the rice cereal - so much so that he became ninja-like in his spoon swatting abilities. After a few failed attempts with the rice mix, we gave the bananas a try. We really had to sell it and I ended up eating some puree as a "role model." I have to say I now understand his reticence... it was nasty. After some animated chewing and talking up how tasty it was, Finn decided he would follow my lead and take spoonfuls from Mom. He ended up having a blast. I hope to be planning our first trip to Hoagie Haven by the end of the week. Who doesn't want a cheese steak? He needs the protein, I think.

Beannachtai Na Feile Padraig

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone. This is a big, big day in the Dunne household. As 100% Irish Americans, we are proud to embrace our quarter and half blood brothers and sisters. We also begrudgingly embrace our brothers and sisters who use this day as an excuse to drink excessively during a weekday. Thanks for promoting Irish stereotypes. Finn was pleased to sport Irish-themed gifts from Aunts Colleen and Anne. Perhaps people aren't aware that Phineas Robert Dunne is Irish... this should clarify things. Molly even made little gift loaves of Irish soda bread and I am tapped to make corned beef and cabbage for dinner for Molly, Colleen and Harrison. Somehow, it sounded like fun when I was in the grocery store last night... now I want to figure out how to microwave the whole thing and call it a day.

Also, this would have been my dad's 80th birthday. So, happy birthday to Robert V. Dunne and I am thinking you would have made an outstanding 80 year old. In recognition of this special day we include a picture of the birthday boy Bob on the happiest day of his life (not sure why they were taking wedding pictures in what appears to be a public bathroom) and a picture of Jer Bear kissing the family stone... very appropriate.

Lastly, Molly and I got engaged on this day... that fateful night in East Pyne courtyard. So, happy engagement day to us. Let this be a lesson to all the ladies out there... you can pay a lifetime for quick decisions; don't get distracted with the shiny little sparkly things... nothing in life is free.

Tempus Fugit

The Finn-man is officially 6 months old. We can't believe how he has grown and how quickly he has broken us down and dominated our household. We celebrated with a walk into town to get a cupcake at the Bent Spoon, one of our favorite spots. Man, for a little guy who has never swallowed solid food, he really smashes the living hell out of a cupcake. Our boy is ready for some solids!

(Ok, I am stopping here. Molly says if I don't try and write a self-indulgent novella for each post, I may update this more than once every two months.)

Please sir, may I have some more?

Editor's note: This is one of those tropes where the kid is the supposed author of the note. It most often appears in thank you notes and Christmas letters. It is insipid but I am using it nonetheless. Also, the title of the post must be read in an English cockney accent in homage to Oliver Twist.

The first picture is of me desperate to move up the food chain, literally. Can a brother get a grain of rice? Come on folks, I am ready for the solids. What do I have to do, send a message via semaphore flags? I sit there and watch them eat right in front of me. I would be happy for their stir-fry leftovers but there is not even a look in my direction. I've taken matters into my own hands and grab for the dishes myself, which is no easy task when your equilibrium is very shaky and your head contains approximately 40% of your body weight. Although, from the looks of dad, this may be a lifelong cross to bear. Also, please enlarge the first picture and notice the chip in the bowl on the side opposite from me. Don't tell me I life with people too cheap to throw out Crate and Barrel outlet dishes when they get damaged? These cheap bastards will probably be buying me lead-tainted toys at garage sales. I need to proceed with caution on the chewing front.

And do I have to go out in every snow storm we have? It's winter in New Jersey. It snows. I am a baby and snow is new to me. Got it. You know what, snow is also cold, and that became not new after the first foray. So how about taking the extra FIFTEEN freaking seconds and zipping up my coat before we play winter wonderland in your crappy little weed choked back yard? Can someone phone DYFS? That is bare skin you see on my legs. And can someone tie my pants before everyone goes Annie Liebowitz on me? For crying out loud is a little dignity too much to ask?

Happy New Year! 2008 was great; 2009 will be fine.

It's good to know I could always find work as a cheesy graduation year slogan writer. Or, maybe I just got lucky with '08 and '09. I can't come up with something for '10. It's raining men in 2010? Catchy with a built-in theme song but ultimately a bit limiting in audience scope.

As for our New Year's plan, we went to NYC. Yeah baby, watched the ball drop. By NYC we mean the NYC metropolitan area (Sparta) and watched the ball drop with Anderson Cooper on TV. There may have been a BC football game around that time but for some reason it is blacked out in my memory... I have just vague recollections of great sadness. When the clock struck midnight, I documented the big moment by photographing Grandpa Bracken and Finn at the magic minute. I did learn that Finn can't sleep through a camera flash, but Grandpa can do so without skipping a beat. We have to start adding Jameson's to Finn's bottle I guess.

Molly and I did have a great day in the city (without Finn. Is it bad to admit that?) which was great fun. We met up with our favorite scientists Beth and Igor Teper (Beth is a boa/love scientist and Igor nearly freezes rabidium. For real. Look it up.) They were in town from Palo Alto visiting family. I don't have the pictures yet so I will have to upload them later. Igor is the absolute champ at the one arm photo... if they gave doctorates in this skill, Igor would be a Nobel Laureate by now. One take away from our lunch date with the Tepers... the world is running out of helium. That, and the government funds rabidium-freezing research without a clear application or end result. If you want results, and you are a lady looking to get an MRS degree with a physics Ph. D, talk to Beth as she is very results driven. She is the Feynman of all things romance and has many happy clients attesting to her mastery of the laws of attraction. I would add some clever double entendre with a physics formula on molecular bonding, but I went to a Catholic high school so I don't know anything about science other than transubstantiation is totally true.