Family Resemblance

Mairead has always looked like her dad, but as she gets a little older, there seems to be more of her mom's side in her. Maghan's Nana pulled out this old picture of Jen when she was little, and there is a very strong resemblance between her and Mairead. Mairead took a minute to admire the picture before chomping on it. She and Jen also have that same mischievous look sometimes-- so there is a family resemblance in more ways than one!



I don't have a lot of pictures from this past week because I was so busy with the prom and graduation. Thankfully, both are overwith and both went well. It was definitely a stressful week and I didn't get to spend nearly enough time with Mairead. Dave brought her by the high school on Saturday so that I could see her for a minute before heading out on to the (96 degree) field. We graduated 908, and there were 1,153 at the prom, so there was a lot to be done! I'll definitely post more pictures soon- especially since she looks so cute in her bathing suit!

10 Months Old- and a new game!

It may be hard to believe, but on May 29th, Mairead was 10 months old! These 10 months have been amazing and we are loving every second with her. She is so much fun and is really developing her own personality. Turning 10 months old means that turning 1 whole year old is not far away! We will be throwing a 1st birthday- belated housewarming party at our house on Saturday, August 2. We'll send out more information later, but we hope you can join us to celebrate and enjoy food, drink, friends, and our little girl!












Today, Mairead discovered another new game. The wind was blowing the curtains, so she investigated and found that they make for a great game of peek-a-boo!

Hide & Seek and other new tricks

Remember when I said that Mairead is doing something new every day? Well, here are some photos of her latest tricks. For one, she likes to get into things and try to hide. It could be anything. A storage bin, for example, works well.


She is also working on feeding herself. Mostly, she just likes to play with her food, but she's getting there.



Here's more hiding... this is the bottom of her changing table. In looking at these pictures, I think it's pretty funny that every time she does something she is not supposed to do, I stop and take a picture before moving her to safety.






This one isn't really a trick, but when Connor came over this weekend, he sat in her walker and she used it to pull herself up to play with him. They are so cute together!

Like Mother, Like Daughter

Mairead may look more like her dad, but she is already showing some signs that she will be a lot like her mom. She already likes baseball, for one thing. That sweatshirt is from St. Michael's College, and was mine when I was little. My dad graduated from St. Mike's just after I was born.


Then, her Grampy made pancakes in the shape of her initials. He used to do this for Maghan and all of the Monaghan kids when we were little.


Mairead loved the pancakes, and especially loved eating them all by herself.






Now that she has mastered the skill of crawling, she is ready to move on to bigger and better things, like climbing up steps.



And she loves to feed herself those little cereal puffs.

She is definitely going to be an independent person, which is both good and bad. We want her to be a strong and independent person, but we can already tell that the word 'no' is not going to be one of her favorites! Hmmm.... maybe she is actually more like her aunt... She is definitely fascinated by Jen, and she seems to have inherited her mischievous expressions. We could be in for a lot of trouble!

Exploring

Now that Mairead is mobile, she has spent a lot of time exploring the house. She loves books, and now she has found out that we have a book case that she can climb right in to!



She pulled out a photo album that includes her favorite subject-- herself.


Turns out, she can fit in the little space between the play pen and the couch.



And, remember those pictures of her trying to go up the stairs? Well, today she figured out how to do that. She is pretty proud of herself.... and we'll be putting up a gate in the morning!

Getting into trouble

Yesterday, Mairead had some company when we put her down for bed. The cat had been snuggled under the blankets, and Mairead was pretty excited to see her in her crib.

The cat was less than thrilled with Mairead ruining her nap, though.

She headed out of there as quickly as she could!

You all saw the video about ten days ago that I took when Mairead first crawled 'for real.' Yes, that was only 10 days ago, and yes, she has now moved on to trying to stand and climb up the stairs. She is a very independent and curious little girl-- I think we are really in for it now! We waited all this time for her to crawl, and we were so excited when she did it. Now, I think we'll be wishing she would stay put once in while!


She can even pull herself up to a sitting position from lying down-- she is very strong! We are really thrilled with how she is doing- even though she is using her new skills to get into trouble!

Enjoying the new deck

We took Mairead out on the deck today to try to get some good pictures of her in one of her cute new spring outfits (thanks, Jean!). Mairead, however, just wanted to spend her time exploring the deck. She is always so curious and she is getting pretty good at pulling and standing up. She also liked when her dad swung her high up in the air to touch the trees. We are loving the nice weather!