Friday, December 30, 2011

Reflections

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!

I can do it by myself...

"Eating with 2 hands is a piece of cake and you can get more in your mouth!"

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.




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.

Playing with his zebra, a gift from Nana and Saba (great-grandparents) for Chanukah.

Family of 3 Christmas: Sporting the robe we gave him...
Family of 3 Christmas: The gruffalo!! (ignore my hideous face!)

Christmas in Belfast with cousins.

"Wish I had a ride like that..."

Three lil cousins.

A traditional Irish Christmas dessert...flaming Christmas pudding...pretty much a fruit cake with brandy on top. :)
Hamming it up with wrapping paper...











Training him early...

From December 2011

Tongue fascination

A lil someone loves showing off his tongue, especially when asked, "where's your tongue?"


Santa Series: December 2011

Santa Series:

The first Santa we visited at Stephen's Green; he sat like this the whole time and didn't move.

The second Santa..."Get me outta here!!"

The 3rd Santa at his daycare..."Are you kidding me? Who is this joker??"