It's New Year's Eve eve and as I sit here typing, I hear Brennan's breathing on the monitor, a bit heavy as he is trying to battle a cold/cough and teething pain. My heart feels heavy as I recently learned of a tragedy involving a child's death; it's a family I know from my work at Seattle Children's Hospital. I can't help but wonder why tragedy happens and to try to make sense of it all makes it even harder to comprehend. Hug your children a little closer, a little tighter tonight. Every night. Say I love you when you can. All the time.
With that, I reflect on the year...
With 2012 literally around the corner, it seems as 2011 came and went in a blink of an eye. We're now parents of a TODDLER, a thriving, healthy, fun, sweet, sensitive, loving, silly, curious, the list goes on, toddler. How did he grow up so fast? We talk about wanting to savor every moment, remember everything, write it all down, take many pictures...life just seems to pass by so quick that at times I'm afraid I'm going to forget. I haven't written everything down, Brennan is now too quick to grab the camera and try to capture the moments I hope to get...many of them are freeze-framed in my mind. I do try to savor the moment, every hug and kiss from him is precious...I know there will come a time when the randomness of those hugs and kisses will become sparse and I will be begging for them. I can't get ahead of myself here...for now, we enjoy watching him delight over the small things. Balls, football, Hawks (notice a theme here), animals, music, lights, the list goes on. He isn't walking, he is running, running full speed and embracing life as he knows it. We can only hope that we continue to give him the world, to give him opportunities to be curious, explore, and try new things. With that, we welcome 2012 with open arms and look forward to a new year of experiences, challenges, smiles, delights, and laughter.
Happy New Year!
Friday, December 30, 2011
I can do it by myself...
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Gathering of Friends
We love this gang...the kids are all a day apart and the journey of parenthood has been fun with these guys along on the same ride.
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Chanukah and 2 Christmases
We celebrated Chanukah with a gel cling menorah...Dublin isn't exactly the place to find menorahs. :) We also celebrated 2 Christmases...one with just us on Christmas eve morning and then we rented a car and drove up to Belfast to spend Christmas with our Irish cousins. Brennan loved spending the weekend there...he was doted and loved on and was especially fond of their little terrier, Pippen. I'm sure Pippen is still recuperating from all the attention she got from Brennan.
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Tongue fascination
A lil someone loves showing off his tongue, especially when asked, "where's your tongue?"
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Santa Series: December 2011
Santa Series:
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Monday, November 28, 2011
Dublin Lights
The Christmas lights of Dublin have all been turned on...we ventured over to Grafton Street for the turning on of the lights. Brennan loves anything with lights and makes it known by pointing to them and expressing delight.
We also decorated our place with lights and loved seeing his face light up.
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Thanksgiving 2011
We enjoyed a quiet, lil Thanksgiving for 3 on Sunday, November 27th complete with turkey, gravy, prosciutto and cheddar mashed potatotes, salad, homemade yeast rolls, and pumpkin pie...oh yeah, we can't forget it was football Sunday as well!!
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Weekend Getaway
We managed to get away for the weekend (Nov. 4-7th) to meet up with my grandparents (aka Nana and Saba to Brennan) in London...although the night before I wasn't sure that we would be leaving after Brennan succeeded in vomiting all over himself, me, and the kitchen. In true Brennan form, he was fine afterwards and slept through the night ready to go Friday morning.
We stayed at a lovely B&B, an old home built in the 1600s and restored very well. Original artwork and some woodwork were still intact; legend has it there's a ghost that hangs around there, but we didn't hear or see anything out of the ordinary.
We all enjoyed our time together; Brennan loved the attention he got from Nana and Saba and seemed to be all smiles for them. This weekend, for me, felt like Brennan skipped several chapters of the toddler manual and went straight to the tantrum phase, although the tantrums were mostly reserved for any public transport we decided to go on...taxis, buses, trains, planes. Brian and I really had to dig deep into our creativity pockets for ways to distract and entertain him. Lets just say it's a good thing the flight was only an hour long...on the way back to Dublin, we had just enough entertainment to last us til landing and that would be precisely when Brennan fell asleep.:)
All in all, it was a great weekend away. We stayed in Harmondsworth Hall Guest House, in Heathrow, and spent 1 day in London, and another day in Windsor, a cute town about 20 minutes away from Heathrow. It seemed like wherever Brennan went, he instantly made new friends. We love our social butterfly and love seeing him spread his wings and show his colors. It was great seeing my grandparents and watching them be great-grandparents to Brennan...I remember my Baubie Irene fondly (my grandma's mom) and grew up with her in my life, so it's incredibly special for me to watch Brennan have this time with them.
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Tuesday, November 1, 2011
What's in a word?
Halloween Weekend 2011
What a fun-filled weekend...full of birthday parties, pumpkin decorating, a visit to the playground, and a whole lot of walking for Brennan. He's cruising along on his feet and is primarily walking whenever he can. We love his confidence and love watching him move his feet...he's quick and has already demonstrated great ability in walking and kicking the ball at the same time. Future soccer player?
On Saturday, we ventured over to Robertstown to celebrate Lulu's 1st birthday!! What a fun day...he may have been slightly jealous at the size of Lulu's gigantic cupcake; he kept pointing to it and signing eat, eat. Sorry Brennan, maybe next year? Unfortunately, I don't seem to have any pics of Brennan and Lulu together, but here are some of the day.
A fun weekend is not complete without a trip to the playground! We had such fun watching Brennan navigate his way around the park on his two feet and pick up leaves along the way.
To top off a fantastic weekend, Brian had the day off on Monday, so we were all able to 'celebrate' Halloween together and attend another fun birthday party!
On Saturday, we ventured over to Robertstown to celebrate Lulu's 1st birthday!! What a fun day...he may have been slightly jealous at the size of Lulu's gigantic cupcake; he kept pointing to it and signing eat, eat. Sorry Brennan, maybe next year? Unfortunately, I don't seem to have any pics of Brennan and Lulu together, but here are some of the day.
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