The Girl is 1!!!

Oh my - the sweet little girl is a full one year old. As a friend recently mentioned - with young children the days are long and years are short. She has genuinely sweetened with each day - can't get enough of her. We paused to celebrate the year on her birthday last Saturday - September 8 with family, friends and neighbors. Planned for the event to be outside though significant rains rolled in.

Evening had a great time with everyone and still enjoyed her alone time. She was especially pleased that the Oregon Duck football squad took down Michigan on her birthday (she'd like to attend a game next year for her birthday). All the excitement made the little girl a little tired so she laid down for a nap at about 5PM...and ended up sleeping through the night. So cupcakes and presents had to wait until Sunday morning.

Mama and Evie

Things have been really great in Ithaca and Evening continues to thrive...here's a quick update of some of her specifics...

Shopping with the new cart

Months: 12

Approx. Weight: 22 lbs.

Height: Real Tall

Teeth: 9 or so

Walking: Few steps here and there, pushing around anything she can get her hands on

Into: Everything

Sleeping: Incredible

Smiling: All the time

Heart: Strong as ever

Ruthie and Rosie's cupcakes


Lucy and Evening

Dad held the weekend record for most cupcakes consumed.

Summer of Love

And she's off...the little woman is on the move and sweet as ever. This summer has been especially sweet. For an action shot check -

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3897363747491386707&hl=en

Independence Days

Lets get it started...lets get it started right. Nothing says Happy Independence Day like a mother and her 10 month old sharing an ear of corn. With Evening's eight dagger teeth - she gives her Mom a run for her money on the corn. June has been really good for the Doyle family. Her development continues well - her 9 month appointment had her riding in the 100th percentile for height. We've also had the good fortune to have some great assistance from the grandparents to fill some holes in the schedule.

We've been kicking around Ithaca and our Upstate hotspots taking in all the great state of New York has to offer. A few weeks back we rolled up to Rochester to participate in the Golisano Children's Hospital Radiothon. Raised some good money for the great hospital we owe so much to.

For the Fourth we headed on over to the Farm Sanctuary (http://www.farmsanctuary.org/) in Watkins Glen for there annual "Pignic" of veggie dogs and animal advocacy. Evening especially loved the cows, but was wildly upset that I would not let her grab at their heads and "pet" them. The old man is such a killjoy.

She is moving and a grooving now as well. She is so into standing that I'm surprised she doesn't sleep standing. She will pull herself up on the couch and cruise all around the room and then drop to a patented crawl where she'll swing a leg around for extra propulsion. Really getting to the point where you can't take your eye off her for a minute.

Her movements don't seem to stop. I've found myself stretching out before each time I change her just to prepare for her barrel rolls. Its like I'm in the reverse rodeo. If I can hold her steady for 8 seconds - I should be entitled to the PBR Rodeo Crown. Its really sweet, but a little stressful.

Long story short - Evening continues to do really well - and we continue to cherish each day with the sweet girl.

Summer Evening

Alright, alright. From the southern tier, to the eastern seaboard, and the great Northwest folks have "kindly" let me know how much they like seeing the updates on the little lady, so here you are. I'll likely dial the updates down to once a month now, but will commit to that. Evening is a wild woman, but is fantastic. Closing in on 9 months old - we took our first longer road trip with her - and she did great. We headed down to see Evening's godmother - her Aunt Stephanie who is a 2nd Year Grad student at Yale in New Haven then headed out to Long Island for the wedding of our long time college friend Erica Hananel. This shot above is from that wedding in Oyster Bay. Please note those are sunglasses around my neck and not a bolo tie.


Here is a gem of a photo of Evening hanging in New Haven with Stephanie and Rob's Bull Mastiff - Rocky. Very sweet fella who was very kind to Evening. After we arrived home she continued to look for him.

The beautiful ladies on the wedding day...

Evening and the old man swinging in New Haven.

Evie continues to do really well - though isn't keen on the heat. She is still very excited to be outside. I've dubbed her the "human corkscrew" for her non-stop moving and grooving and rolling - and pulling herself up. She's got a couple of top teeth getting ready to bust through and had two big chompers down low. Extra sweet and fun - looking forward to what the summer brings.

We'll hit you with an update in early July.

Unbelievable Evie!

Monday found us at the Cardiologists for Evening's follow up. We arrived feeling nervy - though left with a bit of a kick in our step.

Evening excelled - pretty much everywhere. Her oxygen saturation levels were 100%, her EKG looked good, and according to the cardiologist - she looked and sounded fantastic - he has her with no restrictions. He did indicate that when she's older we want to steer her away from smoking and intense isometric activities like power lifting. I've already practiced my speech to her "I know you want to compete in Olympic powerlifting - hell I know you could win world's strongest woman - but I just can't support it. How about tennis?" I think I'm alright with that. And smoking - never quite had that on the "gotta check that out list" for my growing daughter.

Dr. Connuck also estimated that her likely need for a valve replacement (now looking at decades if things progress well) may by the time she needs it be done via catherization as opposed to open heart surgery. We were very fired up to hear that. We had anticipated this appointment to be our last with our man Dr. Connuck, as he's leaving Rochester, though we found out that he'll be on a rotation through Pennsylvania that will bring him close to Ithaca. We are quite pleased to keep our connections with him.

Things are really great and Evening continues to inspire.

Big Week

The start to last week brought a foot of snow to Ithaca and has now transitioned to 70 degree temps. Evening much preferred the tail end of the week - she loves being outside with as little clothing as possible. Can't wait to see what the summer brings on the trail, in the garden and in the pool for the little wild woman.

We are now in Rochester visiting with family and preparing for a follow up appointment tomorrow morning with Eve's cardiologist at Strong. She appears to be doing really well - though I always am very anxious heading back into the hospital for these type of checkups. This will sadly be her last visit with her cardiologist Dr. Connuck as he's moving out of the area. Send your good thoughts our way for the sweet girl's appointment.

The approaching week also marks my last week at Cornell. I leave campus and the many great students, faculty and staff I've had the good fortune to work with to work more directly in community/environmental planning. I've been provided the opportunity to serve as a Senior Planner with the Tompkins County Planning Department - a role I am quite excited about - though I struggle with the realities of leaving campus. I'll begin that new role early next month and will be based in Downtown Ithaca just a few blocks off The Commons.

Enjoy the spring - we'll do our best to keep you updated with Evening's progress and discoveries.

Easter Montage...What a Woman!

GO DUCKS!

Spring in Ithaca

Spring has sprung - at least for now - in Ithaca. We've had the good fortune of getting outside and on the trails. Little lady is all about the water. She's got the moves grooving up down and all around the crib and any other place she lies. Her health has continued very well. She had what should be her last shot to combat RSV and flu this season. We head back up to Rochester for a follow up cardiology appoint at the end of April. By all accounts so far her heart is strong and she continues to grow fantatically and smile - with tiny teeth - richer that ever before. Sweet, sweet Evening makes me run home from work just to see that smile. Love it!

My First Guinness

Huge St. Patrick's Day storm rolled in leaving us with about a foot of snow - made for a good excuse to lay low, watch basketball and introduce Evening to Guinness.

She has been so sweet the last few weeks. Really loving getting outside and hiking - and is now quite the bathing beauty. Still wrestling with the teeth - she's got two monster buds on the bottom right now. She also is experimenting with some ridiculous feats of strength. I'm amazed at what she can do - especially with her legs - certainly putting her father in place.

Evie Exceeding

Yet another great week from the little lady. She had her 6 month pediatrician visit last week and all looks well. She's weighing over 16 and a half pounds and 26.5" long. That puts her in the 90%-tile for height and 75%-tile for weight. I also called our pediatrician's attention to the fact that she has a tooth coming in - his reply "Oh yes - I see the teeth (as in multiple)." The appointment culminated with about 35 shots - some vaccinations for ailments I thought were last around at the time of Merriweather Lewis.

She's just generally really sweet and sassy - and still can't get enough of being outside. She's been loving the snow and getting acquainted with the stroller. She (and I) are really excited for the spring hiking season in Central NY.

Coming up on the 1/2 year birthday on Thursday - I was thinking about renting out the skate rink, booking a REO Speedwagon Cover Band, invite 2,000 of our closest friends and have a hybrid limo pick her up - but instead think I'll wait perhaps until she's 1 - when she can really appreciate it.

Howlin' @ the Moon

These last few weeks have been my favorite yet. Evening continues with tremendous health and beautiful spirit. I love it. After the big Valentine's Day storm that netted us over 2 feet of snow we've had the good fortune to get out and hike a bit and she absolutely loves it. In an outing after work last week she was shouting her sweet little song at the moon - just gets sad when its time to come in. Here's a few gems for the last little bit...


Sweet Evening in her patented relaxed pose


Ruthie and Evening at Downtown Ithaca's Chili Cookoff on The Commons - Evening did not directly partake in the taste testing


Oscar night brought the Little Miss Sweet Potato Eating Contest - Pictured above is the Hands Down Winner

Sporting the New Haven Farmer's Market Getup - from our Yale connection - Sister/Aunt/Godmother Stephanie Margo

Cogenital Heart Defect Awareness Week

Evening is rolling over, eating rice ceral and been at her absolute best these last few weeks. Some of my favorite Evening moment have happened just last week - such a sweet character. I'm convinced that much of the reason why she is doing so well, is because of the fact that her heart problem was caught early and we had the incredible good fortune to have an early surgical opening. Because a heart murmur was detected, and our primary care physician encouraged us to go to a pediatric cardiologist at 2 weeks - Evening's Tetrology of Fallot was diagnosed, then surgically treated at a little over a month. She has developed from that point impressively well.

Please encourage new mothers and fathers to have their medical team pay particularly close attention to their baby's heart and should any murmur be detected - absolutely visit a pediatric cardiologist. This is a problem that affects 40,000 babies nationwide a year. Additionally, if you know of any families wrestling with these issues - please provide them the blog site and should they like - have them contact us directly - sddoyle@gmail.com.

February 7-14 is Cogenital Heart Defect Awareness Week - with the day of awareness very justly being - Valentines Day. For more information visit here.

Golisano Childrens Hospital - Dr. Alfieris

The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle recently reported on the great success that Evening's heart surgeon and the team at Strong have been doing with little ones like Evie - love seeing more about my man crush Dr. Alfiers - I owe that guy and his team a lot. Read the article here.

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.