Dance Machine

I have been remiss about taking and posting video lately, so this post includes four of them! Dancing and talking are her latest fascinations, so that's what these videos include. She is not walking yet as her focus seems more on talking. As you all know, she is certainly one to make her opinion heard! Although the pronunciations are not perfect, she has recently added 'kids,' 'pig,' 'juice,' and 'dancing' to her vocabulary.

Lately, Mairead has been showing us her love of music by dancing every time she hears any kind of music. Commercials, tv theme songs, the SportsCenter opening (she hears that one a lot), it doesn't matter, she loves music! I have been trying to get some video, but usually she just wants to grab the camera. This time, though, I did get some of her 'moves.'

I think she is working on the word 'dancing,' so that is what you might hear when she is talking. Also, she sometimes tries to sing along.

Mairead loves to watch other kids, be they in real life or on tv, so she has been saying the word 'kids' this week. In the first video, she says it pretty clearly (well, clearly for a 1 year old), and in the second, she says it again, and then waves to them. She is just so cute! Of course, I am biased...

New Trick

Some days, I think our little girl might be too smart for our own good. One of her favorite things to do is to take all of the books off of the bookcase. Usually, this activity is limited to the first shelf. However, recently, we watched her push a box over toward the bookcase, and we wondered, where is she going with that? Well, it turns out that she pushed it over to the bookcase and then stood on top of it in hopes of reaching a higher shelf. She did it again the next day, this time using a big book that she knocked off another shelf. She's definitely a girl who figures out how to get what she wants!

Birthday Slideshow

Many of you saw this slideshow at Mairead's birthday party, but for those of you who couldn't make it, or for those of you who just want to see it again, here it is! Thanks to Joey for putting it on DVD for me, and thanks to Megan for helping with the formatting for the blog. I hope you all enjoy it!

Birthday Party Pics

On Saturday, August 2, we celebrated Mairead's first birthday at our house. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate with our plans, and the tent we rented stood alone out in the rain. But, everyone still had a great time and we are so happy everyone could make it. Mairead is so lucky to have so many friends and family who love her. Her aunt, Katie, made a fantastic pink cake, and even a little one just for Mairead. Ryane, Dave, and Rachael made the trip all the way from New York, and so many others came to celebrate with us. Thanks to everyone who shared the day with us, and thank you for all of her adorable gifts. She is a lucky little girl!

Mairead's Actual Birth-Day

I have a million birthday related pictures, but these are from her actual birthday on July 29-- I'm a little behind in my blogging due to all of the birthday fun! Anyway, her day care provider, Ms. Pat, generously gave Mairead a doll stroller from herself and all Mairead's friends at day care. She opened that gift in the morning. I think she had as much fun opening it as she does using it! She literally 'opened' it for about a half an hour.


Then, we headed to Stone Zoo for a few hours. The animals were much bigger than at Animal Land, but these were not the kind of animals you could go and pet. Mairead probably spent more time watching all of the kids there than she did looking at animals. This Zebu seemed to like her, though!

It was really hot at the zoo, so then we headed up to Nana and Grampy's house to cool off in the pool. First, we had to take some pictures in Mairead's special 'Birthday Girl' shirt.

Mairead LOVES the water-- whether it is her little pool in our yard, the bath, the water table, and especially the big pool, she never wants to get out! She cries when I take her out of the bath. She has a little pool at Nana and Grampy's, but now that she has been in the big pool, she doesn't want the little one anymore. She also seems to be done with her little float-- she just wants to get in there and swim! She LOVED it when her Dad threw her up in the air!

Swiming makes a person hungry, so we had some french fries for a little snack afterwards. All in all, it was a great birthday! We hope to make her birthday a special day every year, and always spend it together doing something fun as a family. I'll post birthday party pictures later in the week-- stay tuned!

Happy Birthday!

Yesterday, our little girl turned one whole year old. It is amazing how she has changed in the past year, and how much she has changed our lives. She is absolutely the best thing that has ever happened to us, and we enjoy every second with her. We feel so lucky to have her in our lives, and lucky to have so many people around us who care of her and for us. Thanks to all of you who made this last year so special.

The day she was born was the most amazing day of our lives. We were so excited and happy to finally meet our little girl. We couldn't wait to take her home to start our life as a family. Unfortunately, our first days at home were far from what we expected, and the day she had the stroke brought us from the highest point in our lives to the lowest. The week that she was in the NICU was the worst of our lives, as we just hoped and prayed that she would be all right. Thankfully, she proved to us all just how strong she is, and she came through everything micraculously healthy.

That week, everything in our lives was immediately put into sharp perspective. I had worried, like every mom, about things like getting her room ready, cleaning the house, making sure everything was perfect. I realize now that the only thing she needed was us, and that everything would be perfect as long as she was ok, and knew how loved she was. All of the other details seemed insignificant, as long as she was healthy. Now, she is healthy, and she just continues to amaze us every day. Her doctors and therapists have seen no signs of delay or of damage from the stroke; they have each referred to her as 'a miracle,' and I could not agree more.

That week, we also saw just how much we were loved, and how much our families supported us. People visited, sent cards, prayed, emailed, brought us food, and took care of everything that needed to be done so that we could concentrate on Mairead. Thanks to each of you for the part you played in getting us through all of that.

The rest of the year brought us so much joy. Her first smiles, her first laugh, her first World Series and NBA Championship. Her first time sitting up, her first time crawling. Her first words, pulling up to stand, and then cruising around the furniture. I know that we can look forward to many more 'firsts' this year, and we can't wait to see what each day will bring.

This week, I will post pictures of her birthday visit to the zoo, her birthday party on Saturday, and something special I have been working on. Thanks to all of you who check the blog and share Mairead's life with us. We hope she has made you smile!

Animal Land

As I mentioned in a previous post, one of our activities while in New York was to visit Animal Land. It's a great place for kids where you can see all kinds of animals, ride a pony, feed the deer, and several other fun things. Dave and I took Mairead with her Grandma and cousin, Rachael, and we had a great time! Mairead wasn't afraid of any of the animals. She called the little ones, like the monkeys, 'cat,' the bigger ones, like the deer, 'dog,' and any kind of bird was a 'duck.' I think that's pretty good for less than a year old!

These videos are of us feeding the animals. The slideshow contains pictures from the rest of the day.