she's so amazing

....even with a crazy cold, goopy eyes and fluid in her ears she's still the most lovely, joyous creature I've ever seen.

swetie girl

I do love her so!

8eight8

My girl (again, forgive my tardiness),

Eight months. We waited nine for you to get here, how is it possible you've already been with us that long? But, oh - I look at you and it feels as if it should have been longer by now. You have grown so. You are blossoming into the most wonderful, most gracious, most empathetic child; who is hopelessly willful and stubborn and ornery as well.


You have the most hilarious tendencies now - the way you tilt your head when ask where my sweetie girl is.... the way you squint your eyes into half moons of joy when you get caught doing something you're to supposed to.... but my favorite, my absolute FAVORITE is how you clap your hand with sheer joy and raise your arms in a 'hooray!" when you hear your favorite music or we sing together.

Oh, the singing. I have known since your first cry that your voice might be the sweetest sound I might ever hear - but now you have toped yourself. That sound, that joyous slight precious sound of your "la-la's" as you raise your little voice to melody. Oh, my. Just the thought now as I type has me smiling ear to ear.



Of course, you did have a rough spell there. A week where you just did.not.sleep. You were sick, and maybe teething (though Daddy and I hesitate to say that as we've been saying it since November and you've yet to sprout a chomper). And you just refused to lay down and rest. And it seemed even at night sleeping was hard for you. You spent quite a few nights up from 2:30am to 5, bouncing you and singing to you and just in general trying to comfort you. Oh, your tears are your Daddy's and my kryptonite. Nothing wakes us up quicker then your little whimper, or worse a full out cry.

But we got through. We always do. I truly believe the three of us can do anything.


But more importantly, this was the month of you learning to hold yourself up and walk along the couch, of you and I on the floor as you struggled to scooch across the rug. The month of songs and singing and you regularly calling for mommmma and dada. And raspberries! Oh, you love to give (and recieve) raspberries. Or just spit one out in response to any number of situations. It has been a month of singing and dancing and a lot of "hoorahs!"

Just this week you've started tilting your head with a sweet smile across your face in response to "where's my sweetie girl?" Oh, my love. You have captured our hearts even more, and I didn't think this was possible. Watching you come into your own, find your voice - learn to really communicate with the world around you.... well. I feel blessed to be a part of it all.

I love you my darling, daring girl. With every day that passes, I just find more reasons to. To hold you. To laugh with you. To walk with you, my fingers grasped tightly in your own.

Please know every single moment since you've been here with us has been a gift, and I can't wait for all the moments to come.

your mama

don't be fooled...

...she's hatching world domination plans.

its just me & Maire today

And the weather's BEAUTIFUL. We're having the exact kind of day that darling face looks like we're having. Sunday's are AWESOME!

playin' all day

Wears a girl out...

smiles

Yesterday was the longest I'd been without her. Today we're just hanging out while it thunders & rains outside. My cheeks hurt from laughing.

star wars toys!

It's only surprising in the fact it took this long.

We spent a good part of our day playing with her first Star Wars toys Papa & G'ma Bell sent. (And, yes, she's already seen the movie. THAT did not take very long...)

feeling better

At last!

my super girl is sick

So we're cuddling a lot today. We had some plans but are postponing them for now, in hopes a quiet restful day will help.

Mild-mannered?!

No ways! She's SUPER SAMAIRE. Who's spending the day with Mama: shopping, zoo-ing, and PAINTing! Saturdays are the best!

life is good

As Leslie wrote elsewhere today, so am I full of hope. *Hope-filled.*

Maire's First St. Paddy's Day

(the one where I forgot all three of our various cameras and had to use my phone, which is decidedly not Maire-proof as she's CONSTANTLY moving and was SO.EXCITED. ALL.NIGHT.)

This is my attempt to get Maire in her ADORABLE dress my parent's got her. She didn't' wear it to school because we were taking Daddy out to a fancy Irish beer-tasting dinner and she hadn't pooped in two days. This is how I plan my life.

It was impossible to get a good shot. She was dancing and laughing and having a GREAT time. She looked precious, I have to say. All the way there (we met Sam at work and walked to Rockefeller Center, where the dinner was) people actually stopped and pointed at her and exclaimed "how cute!". I was beaming and so was she.

She got to eat her dinner at the fancy restaurant too. It was her first time in a high chair that wasn't her own. She was awesome. We were there for over two hours and she fussed not once. However, try to capture this good behavior on film, or at least on Palm and you're done. No ways. But trust me. Awesome baby. I'm so glad she loves us like this. We drag this kid EVERYwhere. She's a pro.

These are just a gratuitous shots of her being happy and adorable.

'Cause, well, COME ON, PEOPLE. WE MAKE GREAT BABY!

And, doing her quarter-Irish heritage proud, she celebrated this great day 'til she collapsed. She fell asleep on the way home and didn't so much as stir even slightly awake as I undressed her for bed. She woke up this morning with a smile on her face and a look that beamed "let's do it again!"

P.S. Katy, this is the hoodie you got her. She wears it all the time now. We miss you!

happy SPD!!

afternoons

We took a nap together. She then stirred and woke - seeing me and grinning ear to ear. We lay there for a while, talking of the things only we can truly speak of, smiling, laughing ... & I thought to myself, "This. This is happiness."

Quote

"... in satellite maps of the earth, he said, you could always tell where the people were, even from great distances.

Their faces, upturned slightly, gave off a shine that was like nothing else on earth ...

...Humans, no matter what they did, could not hide their incandescence."

The Ten Year Map - Meg Wolitzer

Costa Rica

We owe you a real entry - and you'll get it, I promise. Filled with adorable photos of our dear girl enjoying her first tropical trip... but 'til then, here's a couple of my faves we got of her and me all dolled up.

matching shoes!

She wore that dress for maybe ten minutes. We had lost power and had no a/c, so I opted to change her into another little dress I had gotten for her. But! It was long enough to get a couple pictures. The shoes, of course, didn't even last 10 minutes. :)

My new job and it's relevance

is tentative at best (can I still call my job "new" after a year?) but needless to say my daily (or not so) grind involves oftentimes a lot of graphs. Or in my fancy-pants world: "information graphics."

So when I saw this it made me laugh out loud.


I have work to do so I'm straining against the urge to redo this so it's prettier.....

Seven Months

Maire,

Wow. How did this happen? It's been over half a year now, officially. And yet, when your Daddy and I looked at each other at 5:15, remembering how you cuddled on my chest, how you stopped crying when you heard his voice... it was obvious we both felt like it's been since just yesterday.

I'm eternally amazed at what you can do and how you act. You took your first international trip this past weekend and were a trooper the whole way through. (Even when we go stuck on the tarmac on 90 degree-plus weather and you simply fussed for only ten minutes of the over two hours we sat there.)



You are eternally happy and good natured. It makes me proud. Your smiles are infectious no matter where we go, and it seems even on the most tired, long of days its impossible to be even the least bit grumpy around you. You radiate joy.

Your talking more now, and you sing to yourself when you're tired. And you're DYING to walk. Dear lord. You constantly want nothing of sitting down or being still. Not when there's exploring and walking and dancing to do. I don't blame you. Our nightly dance parties are my favorite time of day.



I could spend my days watching you sleep and be eternally happy. In fact, it wasn't long ago I did just that. But now, now you've brought a new kind of joy I can't explain. I wake up every day looking forward to the surprises you will bring. Every day is something new. A new sound, a new game. Every day being with you is just that much better than the last. It feels as if we're living a dream.



You got your first Mets hat this month. A new era begins. :)



Your Daddy could not have looked prouder in the store when he put it on you and you smiled so very big.



I think you were excited to have something just like his. You are SO a Daddy's girl. He makes you smile and can calm you like no one else (myself, I grudgingly admit, included). But we have our moments too. My favorite is when we take turns laughing. Oh, my heart. It may burst yet.

If it isn't from your incessant crazy giggling, it might be from the sheer joy you take from sweet potatoes, pears and apples...

(honestly, there really is joy in there somewhere...)

We love you fiercely, Bug. Love you. Love you. Love you. Just when your Daddy and I think we can't have more happiness and love in our life, a new day begins. A new day with you.

You are our joy.

But you are still, and always will be, my little lovely baby.
xo,
mama