Evening Grows

Sweet Evening has been growing in every which direction. Here's a few pictures attesting to that...

Evening @ Her Very Best

The little lady is now at 19 weeks of age (and Mama Ruth also celebrating a birthday). Without a doubt this is the sweetest she's been yet. She's very talkative and curious of all around her. With the temperatures hovering around the teens and below - the outside time has been very limited, but she's rolling with it. Her latest favorite activity is bathing. She requires the company of Ruth or I in the bathtub - but is getting to be quite the swimmer. Without a doubt we'll have her up at the Ithaca College pool this summer swimming laps.

Her health continues to look great. We are still very vigilant about her exposure and are really impressed by her continued growth and good spirits. We're working each day to enjoy every moment and continue to strengthen.

Ithaca continues to be gorges. Hoping for some good snow soon.

Grandparent Faculty

We are very fortunate to have tenured granparent faculty just a few hours away to teach the young Evening Rian a host of beautiful things. Where would we be without them - quite frankly - nowhere. Here's a brief profile.

Name: Dan Doyle - aka "Banjo Dan"

Courses Taught: Foundations of Napping, History of Rock n Roll I/II, Prankster Basics, The Rise and Fall of Buffalo Bills Football, Storytelling 252

Specialites: Evening's favorite author and banjo picker

Name: Diane Doyle aka "The Silver Bullet"

Courses Taught: Math for Decision Making: Numbers and Fun, Reading Like You Mean It, Cognitive Science, The Sociology of Play

Specialites: Evening's personal Mentor Teacher

Name: Rose Merle aka "Sweet Roll Rose"

Courses Taught: Meditations on a Sweet Roll, Gaming 101: How to Complete a Crossword in 20 Minutes, Kitchen of Love: Cooking and Caring for Families on the Move, The Elements of Classical Music, Piano Classics

Specialites: Evening Sous Chef and Bathing Instructor


We are so very fortunate for the great things these folks have taught to Evening in just these first 4.5 months! Thanks so much.

Ithaca Baptism

When Evening was first diagnosed with Tetrology we were rushed to the Arnot Ogden NICU where among other things - Ruth and I baptised her due to emergency. We did it with touchingly distinct style by using one of our Nalgene bottles and baptizing her amongst her tubes, monitors and NICU pals. While we considered this her catholic baptism we still wanted to go through the sacrament at our local church in Ithaca - Immaculate Conception. Today was that day.

Typically when we take her to mass, she struggles. Letting out some yelps, sleeping, needing to pace in the back of the church for 20 minutes, etc. Due to this - and the fact that she has an aversion to crowds and water - we were a little nervy about the morning. Much to our surprise - she was wonderful. At full attention, loving the time in the baptismal font, everything. Very sweet day - for a tremendous lady.

This is a shot just after the ceremony with Father Leo. Evening has on a beautiful baptismal gown that her Grandma Rose made for her - who was smiling on from the front row. My sister Stephanie and brother-in-law Joe D'Agostino serve as godparents. My folks - Dan and Diane - came in from Rochester. My sweet sister Rebecca from Syracuse and her husband Ryan came down as well. Ruthie's sister Becky and her husband Kevin along with the kind 3-year old twins - Hannah and Abby - and their brother Trevor all made it up from Rochester for the 8:30AM mass. Great event and a solid breakfast back at the house after. So fortunate to have them all in attendance and such a touching day from Eve.

The little lady is now weighing in at 13lbs. 10oz. and is 25 inches long. Without a doubt she is experiencing her sweetest, healthiest days yet!

Happy New Year

All is looking quite well on the Merle-Doyle front. Really great holidays both in Rochester and Ithaca. Best part was a very postive report from Evening's cardiologist. Her EKG and saturations looked very well and he was pleased with how she is growing - so much so that we did not have to have an echocardiogram done. Needless to say we were feeling pretty good about that.

The little lady is at a very precious phase - now at 4 months old. I've really enjoyed her behaviors up to this point, but this is my favorite. She's close to turning over, she's talking a great deal and her smiles are the sweetest I've ever seen on a baby.

We introduced Evening to a series of our family traditions over the last few weeks (this picture is from Ithaca's Steamboat Landing on the Cayuga Inlet the site of the Ithaca Farmers Market - we were there for the annual Rutabega curl on Dec. 23)- the latest of which was the New Year's Day College football marathon. I made sure she understood the importance of ringing in the new year with a serving and a half of college football. Rest assured she slept or was otherwise entertained and not watching 10 hours of TV football. Go Boise State!

Happy New Year from all of us.