Giving Thanks

I haven't spent an entire week in Rhode Island since I was in college. But a couple of weeks ago, my Dad (Albert "Skip" Borrelli) was diagnosed with rectal cancer. This came as a real blow to my family. My father is a healthy man who has never known anything but manual labor. The coming months (chemotherapy, radiation and two surgeries) are going to be very hard on him, as well as the rest of us. This was my chance to bring Elijah to spend some quality time with his "Grampy" before the treatments begin next week. I decided to extend our previously-planned 3-day visit into a full week, in order to spend a lot of time with my Dad as well as the rest of my family.

The first comment I need to make is that I have a new appreciation and respect for Julie. Traveling with a baby is really really difficult. And to think she has done it, alone, OVERSEAS...Incomprehensible! Elijah was clingy. I mean REALLY clingy...I could not go to the bathroom without initiating a complete meltdown (I finally figured out my best chance at a shower was to wheel him into the bathroom in the umbrella stroller). He was pleasant enough when I was in the room, doling out kisses and letting anyone cuddle him. But if I dared step into the other room, it was catastrophic.

Then Elijah got sick and was stuffy and miserable for his first Thanksgiving, poor guy. He did not sleep straight through a single night. In fact, the night before Thanksgiving we both got about 2 total hours of sleep.

But it was fantastic visit. I was able to spend several days with my Mom, several with my Dad, and a ton of time with my nephews Brandon (11) and Kyle (4) and my niece Sarah (7).

Here are my pictures:

This is my Dad, feeding Jell-O to Elijah. The first thing Dad tried to give Eli was an orange popsicle. Jell-O might not have any nutritional value, but it beats cleaning orange popsicle off a nearly-one-year-old!

Kyle and Nana (my Mom), who was so sad to see Elijah leave today after a fabulous week together.

Here are Elijah's cousins- Brandon, Kyle and Sarah. Yes, he only has 3 cousins on my side (compared to 24 on Ed's side!)
Brandon is "Grampy's Little Helper" in the kitchen. He makes a killer loaf of fresh bread that even rivals Grampy's!
When he wasn't making bread or apple pie, Brandon was doing homework. Brandon suffers from Crohn's Disease and has spent a lot of time in the hospital lately while the doctors try to determine the best course of treatment for him. Because he has missed so much school lately, this kid has a TON of homework to do!

My sisters, "Auntie Carole" (enjoying one of Elijah's signature kisses):

"Auntie Paula" (with her awesome new haircut...on Wednesday she donated more than 10" of her hair to Locks of Love, a non-profit organization that provides hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children suffering from long-term medical hair loss http://www.locksoflove.org/)
And "Auntie Leslee" (Elijah's thinking, "I will do anything this woman says...she is so beautiful..."
And Carole with my Brothers-in-law Jim and Mike:
We visited with some of my old high school friends. Jen and her husband Andy just moved back to New England after several years in New Jersey. One rainy day, Jen and I took the kids to the Providence Place Mall. For lack of anything better to do, we let them play in Pottery Barn Kids, since we figured it's the closest they'll ever get to such expensive toys!

Here's Maya (4) and Elijah playing with a $75.00 tool set:

But mostly, Eli loved the pink kitchen set ($299.00 for JUST the stove!)

One evening we went to my friend Kim's house. She, her husband Ken and two children (Sydney-4 and Gabriel-10 months) live in Warwick. Elijah loved playing with Gabriel's toys.

Gabriel recently had his first haircut. WHAT a handsome guy!

The Thanksgiving meal was fantastic. My Dad and stepmother Lynn really outdid themselves with a 28 pound turkey! Paula got a lot of great TG pics, you can see them by clicking on her blog link to the left. I was busy taking care of a sick baby, so taking photos wasn't a priority. But I did get that great shot of us with Dad that's at the top of this post.

The next day, of course, was Elijah's 1st birthday. My sister Paula generously offered to host his party. So we baked him a cake. Y&C of course. It wasn't fancy but it tasted great!

Then we sang "Happy Birthday". He didn't really know what to make of that:

He ate some cake (pretty neatly in fact):

And quickly got the hang of opening presents:

Cousin Kyle showed him how to play with the "ball popper"

There were BIG smiles all around!

On Saturday, we watched Brandon play in his grade 5/6 basketball game and then pointed the car North and didn't stop until we hit Vermont. It's good to be home.

Thank you everyone for your: hospitality, love for Elijah, long talks, hugs, tears (happy and sad), optimism and support, great food, birthday parties and presents, 28-pound turkeys and all the great memories we made over the past 7 days in the Ocean State. We love you all.