Introducing the Newest and Smallest Member of our Family:

Bosco Anthony Bork! Bosco is my mom's maiden name, and Anthony is Paula's dad's name, so it's all in the family. And although I can't help thinking of my grandma and grandpa Marie and Rocco Bosco, and Seinfeld and George Costanza's secret code, Greg has assured us that we can call him Bo or Boz (which I might choose, because Boz was Charles Dickens's pen name when he was writing essays) We'll have to see what he answers to in the next few months.

In addition to being the newest, Bosco is also the reddest and the wrinkliest, and certainly the softest and the squishiest. But although he was tooting a bit tonight, Henry still has the title of fartiest.

Paula had this tiniest of Borks on Tuesday night at just about 8:16 p.m. He came six weeks early, the little scamp, and has to spend the next few days in the Newborn (I just typed "Newbork" and had to delete...) ICU because he's a skinny little guy (5 lbs. 3 oz.). But he's doing great, as is new Mama Bork! Here are some photos of the new parents, Bosco himself, the new Grandma Bork, and the new Auntie Laura!

Dad, Mom, and Baby!

All Hooked Up And Feeling Good

The Prettiest New Grandma (I'm biased)

He has your hair, Greg!

You're So Very Small!

Auntie, Dad, and Bosco

Bosco's First Toot: way to go, kid!

I'll be posting more pictures of little Bosco as soon as I see him again (maybe Friday), or as soon as I steal some pics from the other people who are visiting him. Trevor and I enjoyed the view from Paula's room, too, and I took a shot of Trevor taking a shot.

Oh, right. And Paula had a baby shower on Sunday (the timing was perfect!), so here are some of the photos from that!

The Four Pregnant Girls (from left): Toni, Paula, Jen, and Stacy--Paula was not supposed to go first

In addition to being Bosco's birthday, Tuesday was also Sadie's half birthday, so we had a lot to celebrate. And here's a little video taken by Sean to show off how damn cute she's getting.

In other news, I had to report for jury duty today. It was wholly uneventful, though I got lots of papers graded. By the end of the day, though, I'd had quite enough.

And that just made me realize how long a day it's been. I'll sign off for now. Good night, Bosco!

I've been neglecting my posting, so here are just some highlight pictures from what Trevor, Henry, and I have been up to this summer.

1. We went to our friend Meagan's wedding in Milwaukee, and it was a wonderfully fun time.

That same weekend, our friend Adam was in from Alaska and we got to see him for a couple of days.

2. Trevor and I had tuck-pointing done in the loft, which only took a couple of days, but caused a chain reaction of tarping, cleaning, and reorganizing our many, many books. We didn't get the house back in order until a couple weeks later, but it's so much nicer now!

The work coincided with the World Cup, so we had an excuse to do a lot of hanging out with Sean, Angi, and Sadie (who is a huge soccer fan).

We hosted our own World Cup Final party for the family. I made pulled pork bbq for the first time in my life, and it turned out deliciously! Sean, Angi, and Sadie, along with Neill and Fran, my dad, and Dan, Simona, and Maya were all over to watch the match together. It wasn't a terribly exciting game (Spain v. Netherlands), but Spain won in the end (yahoo!) and we had good food and better company.
And, most importantly, the babies had a good time with Henry.

3. I met a blob monster and he tried to eat me.

And Henry tried to eat him.

4. My mom and I threw a baby shower for Paula, and it was a huge success, and a whole lot of fun.

And, that's pretty much that! I've been keeping busy with summer school, which is almost over, actually, and I'm still marveling at how quickly the summer has gone by. Trevor's been keeping busy at the gallery, and took some great pictures of the newest show.

Mom Bork and I are going to another baby shower for Paula this afternoon, but we only have to be guests, and eat and chat, which is nice. Trevor and I are going to Lake Geneva for a wedding in two weeks, but otherwise we don't have any summer trips planned. And that's actually okay by me. I won't mind sitting on the roof in the sun reading for a few days. Doing nothing is sometimes the best sort of vacation.

Two Days for Babies

Yesterday, Mom Bork and I met up with Paula and Mrs. Nichols to register for baby things! We had a wonderful time looking at cribs, bedding, strollers, car seats, and some of the cutest mobiles ever. Here are some of the shots of the ladies.

We ended the day with lunch and baby shower gabbing. It was so much fun to make plans for the tiny Pecan Bork. We can't wait to meet him!

Today, after doing a whole lot of nothing for the majority of the morning, I went out to meet Simona and Maya for coffee (Simona and I had lattes, Maya had an Americano with an extra shot) and then a walk. The weather couldn't have been better, and we had a great little trip to the park, where Maya seemed to quite enjoy her swing ride.

Trevor and I had a date tonight to go up to Chicago Soccer to check out their World Cup 2010 tee-shirts and jerseys. They had WC 2010 women's tees in five countries, none of which was the U.S. There were great shirts for the Chicago Red Stars (our women's pro soccer team), but none in my size (although they had excellent little jerseys that Sadie and Maya both will get when they're a little older). And all of the WC 2010 men's soccer tees-shirts were either really boring or were specific to old beady eyes Donovan, who I cannot support specifically (and I cannot let Trevor support him), even though he is a member of a team that we support. 

So we might have to get some gear online, or try this new Nike soccer shop on Milwaukee Avenue, Nike x St. Alfred. We tried it after Chicago Soccer, but they'd closed a few minutes before we arrived. It was okay, though, because it gave us an excuse to eat dinner at Rodan across the street from the shop, and our meals were delicious; I had the tilapia tacos and Trevor had the veggie burger with wasabi fries. Both were tasty and really hit the spot(s). 

And this weekend we go to Megan and Michael's wedding in Milwaukee! We'll come back on Sunday afternoon, after brunch with Kate, Jim, and the kids, to Henry and Adam waiting for us to go shopping and hang out for the rest of the holiday weekend. I'm sure we'll have more photos to document our mini-vacation. Enjoy tomorrow's weather--it's supposed to be another perfect one!

Father and Daughter on Man Day

For this week's Monday Manday, Trevor and I had lunch with Dan, Simona, and Maya, and our friend Liz. We stuffed ourselves with tapas from Cafe Iberico, where Simona used to work. We hadn't been there in years, and the food was just as good as we'd remembered. Maya was the best baby in the joint (she didn't fuss or cry or fall off of her chair like some lunatic toddler did) and posed for a number of beautiful pictures for T's new camera.

After the feast (tomato soup with goat cheese, grilled mushrooms, two kinds of potatoes, octopus, clams, avacado salad, and more), Trevor and I were too jammed into our own jeans to go clothes shopping for him like we'd planned, so we went to the grocery store instead. It was good to go on a super-full stomach because we only go the necessities and then came home to putz around. It was hotter than we were ready for, so before we could turn on the AC, Trevor changed out the filter and then, while doing other fantastic man-maintenance, realized that our fire detector is a dud. Luckily we are fire-free and have a fire extinguisher, but we'll be getting the detector fixed a.s.a.p. just in case.

I got the car serviced today before our trip this weekend to Milwaukee for our friend Megan's wedding (she met her fella, Michael, a couple of weeks before our own wedding; at our reception she told Trevor and I that she was going to marry him--and hot damn, and now she is!), and then Henry and I went on a long, hot, hot, walk. We're back now so I could work on my syllabi (which were due a few weeks ago...blergle) and catch up on my backlogged American Idols before tonight's finale. Who do you think will win? I'm banking on the guy from Mt. Prospect, since his version of "Hallelujah" made me tear up. Seriously. Crying about American Idol. It's maybe already time for me to get off the couch and back to class...

And speaking of tearing up at the television set, last night was the last episode--ever--of my favorite show of all time: Law & Order. I'm planning a very special post about it. I have to pull myself together first. I shed a few tears last night while Trevor wasn't looking, so it's going to be an emotional goodbye. Until then...

Robots in Disguise!

Trevor says that I look like Harry Potter in these glasses. I say, would Harry Potter wear rhinestones? Probably not. But Trevor does have a point...

I infiltrated Man Day this Monday since I'm home for a few weeks between Spring and Summer semesters. Trevor and I went out to lunch, went to the optometrist, and then to See to get some new eyeglasses. We had a lot of fun just trying them all on. Trevor settled on some nice new black frames that he should get next week, and I spotted some cool green frames that I'll come back for in a few weeks.

And that's been one of the most exciting things that I have done this week! I've been kind of a home-body, only leaving the house for Henry walks, grocery shopping excursions, a haircut, a volunteer gig at 826Chicago on Thursday, and...well, that's it. I have also done the laundry, cleaned the bathroom, washed the windows, made ratatouille and root-beer floats (for me and Trevor and our friend, T's co-worker, Juli, who came over for dinner yesterday after work and before they went to a gallery opening), watched three episodes of Columbo (the highlight of my week was discovering that Netflix has all seven Columbo and all nine X-Files seasons on "Watch it Now"), finished a book, started another book, re-potted my shamrock plant, and taken two naps.

And today looks like another adrenaline-pumping litany of high-energy activities. I started out giving some high school students feedback on essays for their AP class, and now I am blogging. I haven't left the couch in two hours except to fill up my coffee cup. It's been pretty nice, though I'll eventually have to stop blogging and take a shower. I think that ironing clothes and watching another couple of Columbo episodes is also in my future. It's a dreary day so I think that Henry will only get two walks instead of the four he got yesterday when it was beautiful and sunny.

So I guess that's my cue. "That" meaning the "Rock Doctors" segment on Sound Opinions that is intervening on a man who only listens to the jam-band, Phish. It's a good time to shower up rather than be transported back in time to my UW years, circa 1994. Have a lovely Saturday afternoon!

SCHOOL IS OUT!

I'll be posting a lot over the next three weeks while I'm on break before summer school starts. So I'll (hopefully) make up for the lack of posts since March. Flargh!

My Work Group Is The Cutest Out Of All Of The Groups

Just look at them! The picture the girls took on the tires couldn't have been posed better, I think. So not only are they the hardest workers, but they're the most adorable!

More From Virginia Here are some great pictures and video from the trip. We're having such a great time, and working our butts off down here. It's not only eye-opening and interesting work, but the landscape is beautiful and the people we're working with are great. Each night I go to sleep on a wooden planked bunk bed, but I don't mind so much. I'm actually excited to go back to our job site tomorrow to get started. With each day we work comes new skills that I'm excited to apply to the next day's task. It's really exciting. Trevor was teasing me that when I get home I'll be able to re-do our kitchen. And in response to that I just laughed and laughed and laughed and laughed... Although I'm looking forward to coming home, I'm also looking forward to our last day's work tomorrow, and the "free" day we'll have on Friday before leaving. We plan to go to hiking on a natural cave trail, which I'm sure will be gorgeous. I'll take lots of pictures, but in the meantime, here are some from the group (and if you want to check out more specific group stuff, check out the school blog we're doing here.).

Here are some photos of today!

My group did a lot of painting today (I leaned against a freshly painted wall no less than two times and got a white paint butt as a result), and tomorrow we'll go back to the same house (a lovely lady named Linda's house) to fix her basement stairs and build a wall to keep that cold air out. We'll try our hand at building a landing, too, which will be quite interesting. Quite interesting indeed. I'll hopefully have photos of a very successfully built and super-sturdy staircase by the end of the day.

I'm In Virginia!

I'm one of three advisors for an "alternative spring break" trip with twenty of my college's students. We're volunteering at a community outreach centery in rural Virginia, and we just got here tonight. I'll have lots more to come, and lots of pictures, so stay tuned!