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.

Over the hills and through the woods....

to grandmother's house we go. For those readers who have never been to Lake Mohawk, NJ, this couldn't be more fitting. Lots of hills, trees, bears, deer, Swiss chalet style houses all clustered around a lake and little town channeling "Dirty Dancing." Nobody puts Baby Finn in the Corner!" The Bracken/Reavey family Christmas is very Norman Rockwell...people driving in from Connecticut with turkeys on platters, yule logs, Christmas themed broach pins, Irish guys with faces reddened by far too many bourbon shots. Santa stops by every year and hands out presents to the family. I learned the hard way that Santa has nothing but a bag full of gift wrapped hate until you formally marry into the family...not even an engagement ring gets you gift eligible..you got to have the paper. This year was extra special as the Brackens had party following a few days later to celebrate Matt and Lisa's engagement and introduce Finn to the neighbors. I'd love to pepper this post with witty anecdotes from the party, but who am I kidding? This was like two months ago. I can barely recognize the people in the photos. Damn this blog and it's horizontal narrative stream.

Picture Key:

1. Finn and the grandparents during the open house party

2. Finn mildly worried about the lack of infant appropriate gift options. Damn you Santa.

3. Finn and Grandpa Bracken.

4. The McDavits, Hosana, Lisa and Matt of the BBQ express.

5. Amazing party spread before the hordes.

6. Hour three of gift opening and Finn finally gets a toy he can relate to.

7. Finn hanging with cousin Kyle, one of New Hampshire's finest.

8. Colleen and Grandma Dunne.

9. Molly with Grandpa and Matt. I think the boys have shot glasses at the ready.

10. Cousins Dr. Jimmy Lai and Eileen Bull.

11. Serafina hearing Santa in the yard. Fire IT UP!

12. Uncle Joe Cron, Aunt Anne Bull, who tarts it up by washing dishes without her shirt. Williamsburg is a dirty town I guess. She moved south and changed. Grandma Dunne and Kevin Bracken round it out.

Jesus is the reason for this retail season....

Phineas celebrated Christmas Eve at home. Colleen and Harrison joined us for Christmas Eve Mass...Grandma JerBear scored us good seats up front and Finn liked that everything was all focused on a baby. That is the way it should be in his opinion. He was cry-free so we kept our streak alive of not having to storm out of a place. He did require a public changing which was a first for dad...what is the protocol for diapers? There aren't Diaper Dekors around town...can you just throw one in? It feels sketchy so I always do it quickly on the sly.

After Mass we had an awesome dinner...a recipe Molly got from Ron Jannos. It was a casserole type thing with sweet Italian sausage, yellow peppers, and rigatoni. Very good. Harrison gave a beautiful toast. We opened some presents and Colleen brought many of us into the 21st century with some webcams so we are looking forward to seeing some of you on-line. We also may try to find a Russian mail-order bride/nanny. We need to see what is out there first. Harrison got basketball shoes that are size 14...they look like boats. Unbelievable. We did some product placement and got him a BC basketball jersey to go with those giant shoes.

The next morning Molly, Phineas and I got up to see Santa's handiwork. Ever wonder the depths of Molly's preppiness? Yes, that is pink and green Christmas paper. Last year I told her I bought special paper from Lily Pulitzer when it was actually from the Target clearance rack. I got a new IPOD, thus allowing me to retire my 2003 model. The students seriously act like I pulled out a Betamax tape deck when they see it...many say "Ive never seen an early IPOD in person" like I have a museum piece. So, now I am cutting edge with 120GB of something. The Santa picture was a surprise gift for Molly and the grandparents. After Christmas morning, we headed up to the NJ mountains of Lake Mohawk to see family. All told, a great start to a first Christmas.

Picture Key:

1. The family by the tree. Finn is overjoyed that his face isn't is shiny as his dad's. Some foundation is in order...perhaps a stocking stuffer?

2. Finn enjoying the pre-Mass festivities at St. Paul's. Manger scene in the background.

3. Finn and Santa. I have some great shots of Finn wondering why a stranger wearing red velvet clothes is holding him. Finn also found the Anthropologie store in his sight line distracting.

4. chatting on the couch with Grandma Dunne. Man can those two talk up a storm.

5. Grandma and Finn. He does a major spit up right after this pic, thus requiring outfit #2.

6. Harrison and Finn, oldest and youngest Dunne cousins. Harrison, that BC jersey looks good!

7. Harrison and Colleen mid-gift opening bonanza.

8. Molly and Finn seeing Santa's handiwork. Molly foolishly did not anticipate obsessive documentation by dad.

9. Finn doing a jaunty-hat Bing Crosby impersonation.

10. Finn opening gifts with Mom.

11.Finn likes paper better than his gifts.

12. Finn likes ribbon better than paper.

13. Flying Finn doing some yoga with Mom.

He who is without sin cast the first scone....

Ok, as I am writing this, Mr. Bracken is watching The Exorcist, the one with that crazy little pre-teen girl...the revolving head, projectile vomiting, the works. Can I write a blog update recording Finn's baptism under these conditions? That said, I do have to admit the townhouse in Georgetown is sweet, but having Satan as your child is a high price to pay...crown molding and full south facing windows be damned (although the huge kitchen did give me pause. How much trouble could a satan-child be...maybe boarding school?)

So, Father Tom (FT) was gracious enough to baptize Finn at the Aquinas House under a full crowd of family, friends, and other older Mass-goers unexpectedly trapped into our family event (don't think I didn't see their eye-rolling when they walked into Aquinas and saw the baptismal bowl.) Once again, FT hit it out of the park and did an amazing job ridding Finn of that pesky original sin. We think it may have been what was keeping him from sleeping through the night, so we are very much looking forward to a sin-free baby in our home. A couple of observations...I had to block out the thoughts about Kevin and Hope's raucous wedding reception taking place in the very room where our little Finn was doing the eternal sign up with the church. Let's just say MTV would have been pleased with footage from the Cotter wedding, so I had to subvert those images on our holy day. Second, Finn was dressed like an extra from that Harrison Ford movie "Witness". That said, he looks cute in a bonnet - even if it can only cover 60% of his massive Irish cranium. He was alert and didn't cry once - which was fantastic. Godparents Anne LeMay and Kevin Bracken were properly reverent as spiritual stewards, and FT even got Shane LeMay and Katie LeMay involved in the baptism ceremony (Bridget LeMay appointed herself godmother runner-up in the event her mother could not execute her duties in the event she is befallen by a Vanessa Williams-type scandal.)

After the baptism, we gathered back at our house and had quite a little reception organized by the Reavey women catering service. Food came in from North Jersey, Connecticut, and Virginia. We had a great time hosting everyone and Father Tom blessed each room of our house with holy water, and took special requests from some parents to get extra holy water sprinkled on the more "spirited Linda Blair" like kids. There was some sizzling holy water but no head spins. The Bulls surprised us on their way back from a family event in the Poconos, and Anna Reid, the baby belle of Georgia, stopped by to chat with Finn. Thankfully, Finn has closed in on Anna Reid in the size category...you can't have your girl cousin dominating you all through your childhood.

So, the final word is that Phineas Robert is now a proud member of the Roman Catholic church and is currently sin-free. We will see how that goes. We had a great time with family and friends and we feel lucky to have so many great role models in our life, starting with Finn's godmother and godfather.

Picture Key

1. Finn, Molly and I with Father Tom at Aquinas House, Princeton University

2. Scott LeMay's artsy photo of the baptismal bowl. Simon Pearce...very nice.

3. Finn rocking his Amish outfit with godmother Anne bestowing blessings. Bridget lurking...

4. The money shot. Nice work Scott.

5. All of us with godparents Kevin Bracken and Anne LeMay. Assisted by Shane & Bridget LeMay.

6. Finn experiencing the rapture as Father Tom drops knowledge. Grandparents Bracken look on.

7. Babies Finn and Anna Reid get re-acquainted under the Christmas tree.

8. Godfather Kevin with the NC BBQ express Lisa Benfield and Matt Bracken. Uncle Jerry lurking.

9. The Crons say goodbye to Harrison, Finn, and "Hosanna" Bracken as they leave for Conn.

10. Shane LeMay and Finn rocking the matching fire truck sweaters. They both love frogs.

11. Godmother Anne Dunne LeMay and event photographer Colonel Scott LeMay.

12. Anne, Scott, Tom, Colleen. Midwest represent!