Mommy's Little Helper!!

The last few weekends Grace has decided to be my laundry helper! Just like my nephew, Josh, she has a fascination with the socks! Once again today she had a ball for nearly an hour throwing the socks up in the air and squealing with delight! It was hilarious :-) It took much longer to get the clothes folded, but was well worth it. We did lots of giggling!

Grace and I also had a very fun game of peek-a-boo this afternoon! She's been in a fantastic mood all day, and once again she was a very good girl at Mass. The older she gets, the more I worry about loud outbursts at inopportune times. But so far, we've been in the clear. Today she used her sweet innocent voice at a few of the most quiet moments, but her "dadadada" just made everyone around us smile. And Martin and I spent the entire Mass smiling. Our girl seems to have that effect on us!

11 Months Old!

Happy 11 Month Birthday, Grace! I can't believe we're closing in on the one-year mark. It truly seems like yesterday that we brought our little miracle home from the hospital.

For the last few months, I've been slacking on the blog, but I've at least kept up with taking and uploading hundreds of pictures to capture nearly every moment of Grace's first 11 months. I've also started uploading videos to our very own YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/user/amberfogarty2005), which has added another level of fun for our friends and family, both near and far!

I've been quite reflective the last few weeks about Grace's upcoming first birthday. The time has flown by. There's a relatively new country song I just heard on the radio the other day that rings true as I think about the past year. It's called "You're Gonna Miss This." Google it and read the lyrics, or better yet, download it! It's a great song. The chorus goes like this:

You're gonna miss this
You're gonna want this back
You're gonna wish these days
Hadn't gone by so fast.
These are some good times
So take a good look around
You may not know it now
But you're gonna miss this

Here's the thing...I know I'm gonna miss this. The last 11 months have been an incredibly special time in my life. Martin and I have embarked on this journey of parenthood together. We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into, and we certainly had no clue what we were doing. But each and every day, we walk together and do our best to raise our daughter. By far, it's been the most amazing experience of my life. I've learned a ton in the process and have felt emotions at depths I never had before. It's been one heck of a ride. And the best thing about it is that it just keeps getting better everyday!

So, yes, today marks 11 wonderful months since Grace's birth! And oh how she's changed! I still remember holding her in my arms for the first time, marveling at the beauty Martin and I created! I still marvel at her on a daily basis. She's at such a fun age, and each day brings a new adventure.

Grace has entered super-speed-crawling mode, and she literally disappears in a matter of seconds. I spend my time chasing her around, which has become a fun game that brings about lots of giggles :-) She's also pulling herself up at every opportunity and testing her legs. You can tell she's giving some thought to the idea of taking a few steps, but I think that'll be a few months away. Right now, she stands up and every so often gets the courage to let go of whatever she's holding on to. She usually falls down right away with a thud, then proceeds to pull herself back up.

I love watching her personality grow and change. I constantly see glimmers of myself in her...her sassiness, her determination, her excited gestures, her enthusiasm about life. And I see Martin in her SO much, as does the rest of the world. Virtually everytime we're out, someone comments on how much "she looks like her Daddy."

On that note, Grace is totally into her Daddy. She is definitely Daddy's little girl. In fact, she digs all boys. I think we have a handful on our hands, especially when she reaches her teenage years... Grace is especially fond of Uncle Billy. When he walks into a room, her face absolutely lights up. Even at her grumpiest moments, Uncle Billy can always bring a smile to her face!

In other recent developments, Grace now has two teeth and is trying many new foods. She LOVES cheese! When I say, "cheese please," Grace does her excited hands and often lets out a squeal to let me know she's ready for some cheese. We're also experimenting with her feeding herself, which is interesting to say the least. The other day I gave her a spoon and a bowl of applesauce. She gave the spoon a try, but decided quickly that using the spoon was way too much work. So she put the spoon down and proceeded to pick the applesauce up with her hands and put it in her mouth. I have a great video of that on YouTube. It was one of those classic moments!

We are also seeing Grace push the limits to see what she can get away with. She already seems to know when she's doing something bad or getting into something she shouldn't. In these moments, she always looks to see if we're watching. If she catches our eyes, she'll usually flash us a devilish grin before diving into whatever she knows she shouldn't do. Like I said, she's a handful already...and she's not walking yet. I can only imagine what's in store in the months to come :-)

Martin and I have both been super busy lately, and we play the dual-working parents ever present juggling game, trying our best to keep our priorities straight. We know that we will miss these days, and we need to cherish this time in our lives! That's easier said than done sometimes, but we just keep on trying.

When Daddy Feeds Grace...

...this is what she looks like:

Grace had one of her little "temper moments" while Martin was feeding her tonight. She threw her head forward right into the spoon of sweet potatoes. She's Miss Potato Head, an appropriate name for our little Irish gal :-)

An Awesome Weekend

Sunday night is always my least favorite time of the week. I don't enjoy saying goodbye to the weekend, knowing that I have to go to work all week and spend time away from Grace and Martin. This weekend I want to end even less than usual. It was one of the best weekends we've had in awhile. Our time with Brendan, Shital, and Roisin was absolutely the best! I've been racking my brain all night trying to figure out how to get them to move here. That would make us SO happy!!

Grace and Roisin had a blast together! They're like sisters :-) Watching them play was really amazing! It brought back a flood of memories from my own childhood. I remember many special times with my cousins. I hope Grace has the same opportunities for closeness with her own cousins, although it'll be tough since three (soon four) live in Ireland and two live in PA. But in November Grace will have a cousin closeby when Uncle Brian and Aunt Jen welcome their new little one to the family! We're all super excited about that!

Anyway, the weekend was packed with activities, so we're worn out. Check out the photo site for a play-by-play: http://picasaweb.google.com/amberfogarty/BrendanShitalRoisinSVisitToTexas. One of the highlights was taking Roisin and Grace to JC Penney to get photos taken of them together. Shital and I had to work hard to get our two active little girls to sit still long enough for the photographer to snap their picture! That was a challenge! But somehow we did it, and the pictures turned out amazing!

We also had a fun time at the State Capitol. The weather was perfect, and we enjoyed showing off our hometown. Martin and I truly love Austin...we're hoping Brendan and Shital loved it enough to think about moving here. Fingers crossed!


That's all for now, folks! I'm off to bed!

Mommy's Turn for Pink Eye

I woke up today with my own case of pink eye. A big thanks to Grace for that gift! I was especially bummed about catching pink eye because tonight Martin's uncle, aunt, and cousin arrive to visit us from Phoenix. So I got up, went to the office and got all the work I needed to do today, then went to the doctor to confirm the diagnosis and get my prescription eye drops, then picked up said eye drops, then came home to work the day away.

I was shocked to realize how much pink eye hurts. It made me even more sad that Grace had it too! Although, she's already gotten over it. I hope I'm as resilient as her :-)

Now we just play the waiting game until Brendan, Shital, and Roisin arrive. Their flight arrives around 11 PM, so just a few hours to go. We couldn't be more excited about their visit, especially seeing Grace and Roisin (who is 14 months old) play together! It's gonna be a great few days :-)

Boo for pink eye!

Grace woke up today with a nasty case of pink eye. Her little eye was swollen shut! She couldn't get it open this morning. It made me so sad! She looked like she had been in a boxing match. Poor little Rocky!

Thankfully, her pink eye didn't affect her mood too much. She was in a good mood most of the day in spite of her pink eye. She even allowed me to work throughout the day, as she played independently. She's the BEST!

Swing time didn't go over well...

Today we took a nice family walk. We took a pit stop at the park to re-introduce Grace to the swing. The first few times she was unsure about the swing set, but she didn't hate it. Today was a whole different story. She really hated it!

She turned white as a ghost and literally started shaking. Then she burst into tears! We felt so bad! We took her out of the swing and cuddled her until she got over it. As kids do, she bounced back in a matter of minutes and forgave us for the nightmare of the swing. I guess we'll wait awhile before we try the swing again!

Grace and Fred

During Grace's first week of crawling, she has already found her favorite place in the house. We start out in the living room, and Grace inevitably ends up in the kitchen, sitting at the back door watching our two hound dogs. She is so intrigued by them!

Tonight we gave them a chance to say hello, and Fred was very sweet! I guess he's forgiven her for stealing all of our attention ;-)

Fred and Phoebe are certainly ready to have a new playmate, so it's great that Grace loves them so much!