Cailin Deas

First Haircut

2010-02-16T15:33:00.000-08:00

I brought James for a well overdue "first haircut" today. Ray was great with him - he has a special little chair that sits on top of the regular chair. James was great too - I think he was rather confused by what was going on and just sat there patiently. Here are some pics:

Ski Trip & Update

2010-02-10T10:06:00.000-08:00

James had his 18 month check up yesterday. He's doing well and now weighs 24 lbs 12 oz (35th percentile) and is about 33" tall (70th percentile). The pediatrician also commented on his verbal skills and says he's about 6 months ahead of average! We got back on Monday from our annual ski trip - no skiing for James but a good time had by all. Here are a few pics:

This is James taking a nap with Matt before we flew home.

Walking in the snow to get some coffee for mommy!

Playing with the cans of Coors that we had to buy to get 2 for 1 lift tickets!

January 2010 Videos

2010-01-18T13:16:00.000-08:00

James' favorite game: Tower

James playing with another Christmas present:

Random Pics

2009-12-28T08:14:00.001-08:00

James on Halloween. He dressed up as himself and was really enjoying riding Oliver's trike:

Saying bye bye to Berta.

Snow Day

2009-12-21T10:02:00.001-08:00

Getting ready to go. Brand-new snow pants courtesy of Connor, who's too big for them already!

Walking to the park:

About to throw two snowballs!

Taking a well deserved break for some cake!

More snowballs :)

Playing with Oliver

2009-12-09T15:50:00.000-08:00

James and Oliver the other day. They could do this for hours (and in fact continued for ages after i stopped recording!)

November Pics

2009-11-29T17:56:00.001-08:00

Lifting weights:

Playing with acorns:
Hanging with Granny.

Videos

2009-11-15T04:39:00.001-08:00

James playing with my keys before bed the other night. A little long but fun for some of you who miss James :)

(not mentioning any names Sandra)

15 Month Stats

2009-11-05T09:31:00.001-08:00

James had his 15 month check up on Monday. This was the first time he was weighed on the big boy scale - he's now 23 lbs (still 30th percentile) and we think 31" (50th percentile) although he really DID NOT want to lie still so we're not really sure about the height. He was a trooper with his shots though - got one in each leg and didn't cry at all.

Fall 2009

2009-10-25T17:45:00.000-07:00

It was a beautiful day in New York today - perfect Autumn weather. Here are a few pics of James in the park after we had brunch at the Indian Road Cafe.

October Videos

2009-10-16T19:03:00.001-07:00

This one is for Sandra - I swear he was just walking around pulling it before I got the camera out and then he started getting creative!

For those who haven't seen James lately, he's talking a lot! He repeats everything and knows lots of words. As seen in this video, which I took just before bedtime, he can count to 4! Not that he knows what it means but he knows that when I say one, he says two, etc.

Our trip to Montauk in September

2009-10-02T07:45:00.000-07:00

Mike did the Mighty Hamptons triathlon a few weeks ago. We stayed in Montauk for the weekend and introduced James to the Atlantic ocean. Here are a few pics and a little video of him.

Early July Videos

2009-08-22T19:52:00.000-07:00

Now that I have a new computer, I'm posting a few old videos - this one is from early July.

James turns one

2009-08-09T15:38:00.000-07:00

James celebrated his first birthday in Ireland last week - I'm having technical difficulties due to a broken camera and a dead computer but here are a few pics - from Geoff via Sandra:

In related news, he had his one year check up and is now 21 lbs 7 oz, and 31 1/4 inches tall - still "tall and skinny".

Philly Tri

2009-06-29T17:17:00.001-07:00

Mike and James and I spent the weekend in Philadelphia and on Sunday I did the Philadelphia Triathlon - it was olympic distance - 1500m swim, 40k bike, and 10k run. I wasn't too speedy but finished in a respectable 3:08:50. Mike and James hung out and watched and took pictures.

This is me coming back into transition after the swim:

Finishing the bike leg:

At the start of the run:

At the finish - yay!

James liked the finisher's medal!

Recent Pictures

2009-06-24T17:03:00.000-07:00

Here are some recent pictures taken with my new awesome camera :)

This is in New Mexico - wearing Grandpa's hat:

Trying to take off his Yankees hat on the train to Brooklyn:

Playing with the dirty laundry - his new favorite thing:

Pawling 2009

2009-06-07T16:59:00.001-07:00

For once, this is not about James! Mike and I did our first triathlon of the season yesterday - the Pawling Triathlon. We both did ok - not great. I was 2.5 minutes slower than the last time I did the race -in 2007; Mike did a little better. Still, it was fun to race again - it was my first post-James race.

Post-race:

2009-05-23T09:55:00.001-07:00

I can't resist taking pictures of him while he's sleeping.

Crawling

2009-05-22T16:48:00.001-07:00

My camera is broken and barely lets me do anything but I managed to video the boy crawling this evening.

9 months old

2009-05-02T09:22:00.000-07:00

James is 9 months old today. At his check up on Thursday he weighted 19 lbs 9 oz, which puts him in the 40th percentile for weight (despite how much he eats!) and was 29.5" tall, which puts him in the 85th percentile for height. In the doctor's words, he's "tall and skinny." Here are some pictures from last week.

Early morning laughter on the weekend

2009-04-25T06:29:00.000-07:00

Bouncing & being an engineer - sort of!

2009-04-21T06:47:00.001-07:00

The boy loves this gymnastics thing:

James also wanted me to record this video of his examination of the springs on his buggy. Lately he is obsessed with how things work - he crawls towards the screws attaching the gate to the wall, loves to play with the stroller wheels, and turns all the toys upside down to see what's going on underneath, etc.

Laughing

2009-04-07T15:56:00.000-07:00

This is James with Annie, Berta's daughter. James thinks she's hysterical - I constantly come home to find him laughing at her doing something silly!

I can crawl now!

2009-04-06T16:16:00.000-07:00

Bathtime

2009-04-01T18:26:00.001-07:00

2009-03-22T13:13:00.000-07:00

James trying to crawl:

Standing

2009-03-14T12:38:00.000-07:00

Cheerios

2009-03-12T08:31:00.000-07:00

I tried giving him Cheerios last night - based on this video, I'm not quite sure he's ready!

Some new videos

2009-03-08T07:20:00.000-07:00

Update

2009-03-03T16:27:00.000-08:00

Little man is now 7 months old - I can hardly believe it. He had his check-up this morning and is doing very well. He weighs 18 lb 9 oz (55th percentile) and is 28 inches long (75th percentile). Here are a couple of pics from the last couple of days taken by my cousin Lindesday who has been visiting.

Outside at the Cloisters.

At our local cafe - The Indian Road Cafe; Note the table-licking!

Oh, and he also had a check-up at the helmet place and is doing well. Now we only have to go back every other week which makes me happy!

The Little Boo Playing

2009-02-22T13:26:00.000-08:00

My Little Boo

2009-02-22T10:47:00.000-08:00

2009-02-10T16:55:00.001-08:00

Two new cute videos - both taken during the hour where he wasn't wearing the helmet:

The Band a/k/a the Helmet

2009-01-28T06:49:00.000-08:00

Laughing

2009-01-25T07:49:00.000-08:00

A recent video of the cherub laughing - don't miss the part at the end where Mike is distracted by football on the tv.

This is just one of him playing with a rattle in the high chair.

2009-01-13T18:18:00.000-08:00

Here are some recent pictures. This is one that Geoff took - I just love how excited he is:

This was his first taste of the snow:

2009

2009-01-02T09:01:00.000-08:00

James welcomed in the New Year with his first cold. He was pretty miserable yesterday but seems in better form today. He had is 5 month check up this morning - his weight gain has slowed down somewhat and he is now 16 lbs, 12 oz (55th percentile), but he is still growing in height and is now 26.5 inches long (75th percentile).

He enjoyed his first Christmas in Spain - this is him at our Christmas Eve celebration :)

Smiling and nakedness

2008-12-08T17:06:00.001-08:00

Finally, a good picture of him smiling (at Mike, not me...)

And there should always be at least one naked (or close to it) picture:

Stats Update

2008-12-02T11:05:00.000-08:00

James had his fourth month check-up today. He now weighs 16 lb 5 oz and is 25 1/2 inches long, putting him in the 75th percentile for both weight and height.

Thanksgiving

2008-11-29T18:03:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving was crazy this year with all the rugrats - the newest Ryan didn't make it but there were still 5 young ones - in order of seniority: Michaela, Nate, Connor, Ryan and James. Here are a few pics:

And another attempt to catch him smiling

2008-11-21T18:04:00.000-08:00

Recent Pictures

2008-11-21T17:55:00.000-08:00

Here are some recent pictures:

Recent Videos

2008-11-01T18:19:00.000-07:00

It's getting harder and harder to record him as he is obsessed by the camera and as soon as he sees it stops what he's doing (particularly smiling) to watch it. Here are a couple of efforts from last week.

Update

2008-10-23T10:53:00.001-07:00

James had his (almost) three month check up today and is doing well. He continues to grow and is now 14 lbs 2 oz.

The Catskills

2008-10-21T08:26:00.000-07:00

So we spent the weekend at our friends Sam and Amy's house in the Catskills - Tannersville to be precise. On Sunday we went for a long hike in the woods/mountains. It was pretty tough terrain but Mike carried James the entire way - it was his first time facing out in the carrier and he was much happier being able to see everything. Here are a couple of pictures.

Stats

2008-09-30T11:25:00.001-07:00

I meant to post this last week but at his last appointment, James was 12 lbs 7 oz and 23 1/4 inches long - both in the 75th percentile.

Smiling at the Fish

2008-09-29T07:24:00.001-07:00

The smiles are coming all the time now and he seems particularly pleased by the fish on his swing.

Waking Up

2008-09-25T08:31:00.000-07:00

It's not normally hard to wake James up (hasn't been since the first weeks) but this time it was!

Tummy Time

2008-09-15T10:43:00.000-07:00

He doesn't particularly like playing on his tummy but he's getting very good at lifting his head upright (unfortunately the memory card got full so I wasn't able to capture it all).

Progress

2008-09-12T06:39:00.000-07:00

James is very close to smiling fully. I managed to capture him trying the other night:

He's also beginning to play more - he did this a few times last night:

Cousins

2008-09-12T06:27:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of short videos of James with Michaela:

James beginning to play

2008-09-02T14:54:00.001-07:00

I keep waiting for James to smile - he seems so close - he's starting to interact more and now really follows things with his eyes.

Update

2008-08-27T13:52:00.000-07:00

So little man is getting bigger by the day. We went to the doctor today and he now weighs 9 lbs 13 oz , and is 21.5 inches long, both of which are right at the 50th percentile. Here are a couple more pictures:

I just thought this was really cute - he looks so tiny on our huge bed!

This is us getting ready for a trip in the car. James was being uncooperative in the picture-taking effort!

So Calm

2008-08-18T18:00:00.001-07:00

So little man was crying uncontrollably - he seemed over-tired so I calmed him down and then Mike swaddled him and put him down. The result:

James' First Starring Role

2008-08-17T14:08:00.000-07:00

For those who don't get to see him in the flesh...

James

2008-08-05T04:39:00.001-07:00

So James Eoin arrived on Saturday night - his big head caused some problems but he still managed to come out safe and sound. He was 8 lbs 2 oz at birth and 21 inches long. We're all doing well - trying to figure out the sleeping and eating etc. but we'll get there...

Best Sandwiches in America

2008-02-12T14:30:00.001-08:00

Here's a link to Esquire magazine's list of the best sandwiches in America! Yum! I have to agree that the chick-fil-a chicken sandwich is FANTASTIC! I haven't had any of the others so I'm going to have to get eating!

Cooking

2008-01-02T13:02:00.000-08:00

So I've been doing a decent amount of cooking lately. Of the new recipes I've tried, the highlight has to be a Hearty Tomato Soup with Lemon and Rosemary that I saw on Everyday Italian. I would cut down on the amount of salt (I like salty but it's even a little much for me) and add more black pepper. Also, there's a mistake in the directions, don't put the chopped rosemary in the soup, (keep that for the creme fraiche topping) put the whole sprig in (and make sure to fish it and the bay leaf out before pureeing). Finally, I had lots of heavy cream but no creme fraiche so I just whipped some up and substituted it - worked fine.

Unwanted Mail

2007-11-27T05:07:00.001-08:00

So over the last few months I’ve been trying to reduce the number of unwanted catalogs and credit card solicitations I receive - it’s just such a waste of paper. I found some interesting tools to do this in the American Airline’s in-flight magazine. First I signed up with the Direct Marketing Association’s Consumer Assistance site which allowed me to opt out of mailings from the association’s members. I then signed up with the credit card companies’ opt out service. Then today I was listening to NPR’s most emailed stories and heard a story about a new service - Catalog Choice - which allows you to stop receiving some catalogs but keep others. I haven’t used it yet because it is quite specific and allows you to enter customer numbers and different versions of your name and address to make sure you’re as thorough as possible. Looking forward to my stack of mail getting a little smaller. Now all I have to do is stop the charity solicitations!

Atlanta Food: Part III

2007-11-17T08:02:00.000-08:00

The last installment: Although Rathbun's was the best meal by far, there were some other highlights of the trip. Last night, Francesca and Erin and I were supposed to meeting Roohi and some others for dinner at a Tapas place about a mile from the hotel. We decided to go early and have a drink nearby so we choose Eno, which was mentioned in the ASC Guide to Atlanta Restaurants. Eno is a mediterranean wine bar/restaurant - we sat at the bar and all chose the house wine flight - 4 2 oz tastes. Erin and I had the red and Francesca had the white. I think we all enjoyed 3 of the 4 wines - they weren't anything fabulous but for $9.50, it was worth doing. We shared some olives and a delicious roman style pizza with chanterelles and ricotta salata - yum!

It was only when we were ready to leave when we found out the dinner plan had changed so we decided to ditch the others and go to the place they had chosen for dinner - Loca Luna. This was a neat tapas place just around the corner. The room was enormous with a little waterfall and sculptures - it was sort of like being outside. Decent sangria and food - the highlight for me was the sauteed spinach with pine nuts and raisins, and their trio of Spanish cheeses with fig cake and honey.

Last night I persuaded the ladies that instead of ordering breakfast in bed, we should go for a Southern breakfast so we set off this morning for Thumb's Up, apparently a local favorite. Instead of cabbing it we walked the 1.5 miles there and back. It's located in the historic 4th Ward and we walked past the King Center on the way (we were pressed for time so didn't get a chance to go in). I think Erin had the best breakfast - biscuits and sausage gravy with grits. I was too hungry to order smart so I had the heap - basically a huge hash with sausage and grilled vegetables, cheese and poached eggs. I also ordered grits with cheese (totally unnecessary!) I'm still full now, even after the walk back!

My final thought - grits are good, but they really need to spiced up - I think they are just too bland without adding to them - the country ham grits at Rathbun's were the best of the three versions I had here, although the soupy shrimp and grits were good too.

Atlanta Food: Part II

2007-11-17T07:46:00.000-08:00

Foodwise, the second part of the trip has been much better. On Thursday night, the Vera crew - Mike, Jen, Roohi (and her boy) and I got in a cab and went to Rathbun's, located in an old warehouse. The room was striking - visible duct work with soft lighting and nice high ceilings. We were seated at a round table, which I love! The first thing I noticed about the menu was the wine list - all the wines were grouped by price, $24, $34 etc. to $64 and then "second mortgage" and "third mortage." We drank a couple of bottles of a $34 Pinot Noir, which was delicious.

Three of us started with the trio of soups - the mock turtle and garlic fennel were ok, but the cauliflower parmesan cream was spectacular - possibly one of the best soups I've ever had (although if I'd had more than just the espresso cup we got, my heart may have stopped beating!) I had read reviews before I went and many people talked about one particular dish: Sea Scallop Benedict on Country Ham Grits with Asparagus & Spiced Hollandaise . I went with that - it was fantastic - exactly as it sounded - there were four big seared scallops sitting in the hollandaise, which was as rich as you would expect but much thinner. It worked perfectly with the creamy grits. The others had brisket, lamb shank, trout, and tortelloni and all seemed to enjoy their dishes.

Dessert was probably the best part of the meal. The prices of the main dishes ranged from $17 to $23 so when we saw that the desserts were only $3.15, we thought they must be just tastes. We ordered a plate of four for $11, which is one of the best deals ever - they were normal sized! From the specials we had a gooey toffee cake, and from the regular menu had the Mini Chocolate Cube with Mexican Chocolate Mousse, a sweet potato pot pie, and homemade sorbet. I thought the gooey toffee cake was the best by far - an upscale version of the English Sticky Toffee Pudding. The chocolate cube was also delicious - a crisp chocolate shell with spicy chocolate mousse inside. The sorbet was nice, and the pot pie was one of the best presented dishes - it looked exactly like a traditional pot pie, except smaller and cuter!

We didn't do dessert drinks as we were pushed for time, but they had a nice list of ports and sherries. I'd love to come back... Overall, a wonderful meal and relatively good value - with tip it came to $260 for the five of us.

Atlanta Food: Part I

2007-11-15T12:00:00.000-08:00

So I've been in Atlanta for two days now and haven't been very adventurous so far, but I have reservations at Rathbun's tonight, which was recommended to me by a couple of locals and also Bill Telepan, who is the chef/owner of Telepan in New York. I'm very excited!

Tuesday Lunch: I was at an all day workshop and just grabbed a quick bite with a colleague at Atlanta Bread Company. It wasn't so different from Au Bon Pain - fine but nothing special

Tuesday Evening: My presentation was Wednesday morning so I was looking for something to grab quickly and eat in my hotel. It was hard to find anything interesting so I just got shrimp fajitas from Jalapeno Charlies. It was tasty but nothing spectacular.

Wednesday Lunch: Went with a few colleagues back to the Peachtree Center Food Court and thought I'd try Farmer's Basket - various meats and vegetables. I decided to be healthy so had collard greens, mashed potatoes, carrots, and broccoli. I was really disappointed - the greens were incredibly bland - not enough salt and I don't think they'd been anywhere near the essential ham hock!

Wednesday's dinner was at the conference reception - excellent shrimp and grits!

Thursday's lunch: One of my colleagues Mike went to Chick-Fil-A yesterday and it looked so good I had to try it today. I was going to get the grilled chicken sandwich but I then decided to screw the calories and go with the classic. GOOD DECISION - it was awesome - the chicken was moist and tender, and the breading was crispy and not too greasy - just enough to dress the bun. The pickle slices were a great addition. I understand why people become addicted! I have to say though, that the waffle fries weren't good at all - they weren't crispy enough and just tasted like oil.

Great Pasta Recipe

2007-11-02T07:10:00.000-07:00

I made this recipe (which I got from Fresh Direct) last night, and it was delicious. I'd highly recommend it - it's vegetarian but I think you could easily add a grilled chicken breast if you wanted to change it up.

A couple of thoughts: Add more basil; Also, I added the tomato mushroom mixture to the rest of the dish rather than spooning it on to and thought it worked great. Finally, I made it with penne, which is all I had, and I think because of the size of the vegetables, it's a better choice.

Le Cirque's Spaghetti Primavera

Weekend Racing

2007-06-07T10:44:00.000-07:00

I have two races this weekend. On Saturday, the New York Mini 10K. I've run this race many times before and last year's time of 55:07 is still my 10K PR. I'm don't think I'll improve on that this weekend but you never know. On Sunday is my first Manhattan Island Foundation race, the Park to Park 1 mile. It's been almost a year since I swam a mile in open water so it will be a good guage of my fitness level.

Welcome

2007-06-07T10:36:00.000-07:00

So I've finally jumped aboard the blog bandwagon - I figure I post on so many other blogs, I really should have my own! I think this will be used to track my struggles in juggling work, school, training and life. Comments and advice are always welcome.

Cailin Deas

First Haircut

Ski Trip & Update

January 2010 Videos

Random Pics

Snow Day

Playing with Oliver

November Pics

Videos

15 Month Stats

Fall 2009

October Videos

Our trip to Montauk in September

More Recent Videos

Early July Videos

James turns one

Philly Tri

Recent Pictures

Pawling 2009

Crawling

9 months old

Early morning laughter on the weekend

Bouncing & being an engineer - sort of!

Laughing

I can crawl now!

Bathtime

Standing

Cheerios

Some new videos

Update

The Little Boo Playing

My Little Boo

The Band a/k/a the Helmet

Laughing

2009

Smiling and nakedness

Stats Update

Thanksgiving

And another attempt to catch him smiling

Recent Pictures

Recent Videos

Update

The Catskills

Stats

Smiling at the Fish

Waking Up

Tummy Time

Progress

Cousins

James beginning to play

Update

So Calm

James' First Starring Role

James

Best Sandwiches in America

Cooking

Unwanted Mail

Atlanta Food: Part III

Atlanta Food: Part II

Atlanta Food: Part I

Great Pasta Recipe

Weekend Racing

Welcome