Pictures

Going for a stroll in the French Quarter with Dad

Daniel with his Great Grandmother Mahoney

A multi-tasking Granpie feeds Daniel his daily dose of orange-colored food. Daniel had a lovely lunch with Granpie, Declan, and Uncle Phil.

Daniel and Non hanging out during cocktail hour on Thanksgiving

Daniel loves his bathtime, and he has many toys to play with!

I need to focus, just a bit

I'm finding it difficult to focus these days. There are so many things that I want to do and so many things that I need to do, but really I just spend most of my time being a mom. Daniel is doing so many new things that it is quite enjoyable to just play with him. It's either that or that fact that he cries when I leave the room that keeps me by his side. He is rather content and entertained when he is eating Cheerios or other finger foods or playing in the jumper or new horse from Aunt Maggie. We are considering naming the horse Cheesebiscuit. Matt and Kelly think it is a great idea. I'm not sold yet.

Ok, back to the focus thing. So I'm here while Matt and Kelly are at the gym and Daniel is napping. This should be the perfect time to get a few thoughts down or pick out a few pictures to post, but the problem is that Daniel has been asleep for over 2 hours. I have this fear that he is going to wake up any minute now. I'm also starting to think that I need to wake him up so that he will go to sleep tonight. All these thoughts can be somewhat paralyzing.

He is really fun these days. He is pulling himself up on everything and eating everything in sight. He has taken on a little color recently because so many of the baby foods are orange. I guess a bit orange is better than really, really white :0 He has also started giggling all the time, and playing lots of games. Well, any variation of peek-a-boo that you like. Yesterday he clapped for the first time. He was so pleased with his accomplishment or maybe he was pleased with my excitement over his accomplishment. Positive reinforcement really does go a long way.

I working on getting into a rhythm with our new busier, more demanding baby. I'm not sure how I would have made dinner on Tuesday night or prepared our dishes for Thanksgiving without the help of Aunt Maggie and Aunt Kelly. They were both here for Thanksgiving and helped entertain Daniel much of this past week. I hope you all had wonderful holidays!

Happy Thanksgiving

We made this video with our new Flip from Aunt Maggie. I must say that I think I like it. It is so easy! Happy Thanksgiving to all of you. We are so blessed and have so much to be thankful for.

Weekend Update

I uploaded this video last weekend. I can hardly remember what I did last weekend. I could have had something important to share, but oh well, it has slipped my mind. Now this past weekend was more notable. Matt, Daniel, and I headed down to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, for my Aunt Meg's wedding. The ceremony was beautiful, and the priest had the most thoughtful homily. Almost all of my Mahoney relatives were there - great aunts and uncles to first cousins. We only get to be together every couple years or so. As an added bonus, all of my immediate family was there and we got to see a bunch of my Mom's family, too.

If you are feeling a bit confused by all the families, don't worry. That's kind of how I feel.

Since we left on Thursday morning, here is a brief description of what we did. Woke up at 4 am to catch our flight, arrived in NO, had a po boy, drove to BR, went to LSU with Aunt Sue, had an amazing dinner (shrimp stuffed chicken) at Aunt Sue's, visited with Mimi and Papa, and went to bed early. So that was Thursday. On Friday we chilled in the morning, went to the bridal shower luncheon, hung out with the parents, met up with Uncle Mike, headed to the wedding and reception, danced our feet off, party in 207, finally made it home 3 hours before Daniel woke up. Saturday started with an 8 am playdate with the new 16-month-old twin cousins, headed home for a nap, went to Aunt Meg's for a jambalaya party, Matt went to the LSU game and came back, put Daniel to bed at the party, made it home the same day ;) Today we drove to NO, had biengets and cafe au lait at Cafe du Monde, met up with Uncle Mike in the French Quarter, enjoyed the nice weather, and travelled back to Madison.

So this puts Daniel at 6 states and 2 provinces. We are looking forward to this week. We get to see a bunch of Lee family for Thanksgiving, and two of Daniel's aunts will be in town!

Looking Forward to Tuesday

Tuesdays are a very special day now. Not only is it a day that Daniel and I get to spend together, but it is a mid-week day that offers a blank slate for activities! I have Fridays with him, too, but scheduling events on Friday seems less exciting for some reason. It must be the whole weekend mentality.

Our latest Tuesday activity is swimming. We are participating in the Mommy and Me swimming lessons at our gym. Last week was our first class, and he absolutely loved it. I wish there was a way to get a video of Daniel in the pool. I might have to get Matt to come as a spectator one day because he is just too cute. There are about six kids in our class ranging in age from 6 months to just over 2 years, half girls, half boys.

The 2-year-old girls are nice and sweet and follow the instructions perfectly. They might even be a little shy at times. Well, Daniel gets in the pool with me and promptly starts kicking and splashing and screaming. He even puts his face in the water from time to time. It is great when we are doing the kicking lessons, not so great while practicing floating on the back. I'm just so glad that he enjoys the class. Hopefully all the other moms won't be annoyed that my kid is the one splashing during the instructions. I guess I'll know when they all start giving us just a little more space :)

Lazy Sunday Morning

Matt and I are just hanging out waiting for Daniel to wake up. It is such a strange feeling. The time I get out of bed has been dictated by Daniel since he was born, which was 7 months ago! Daniel never really caught on to the whole daylight savings thing, so he's been going to bed between 6 and 7 pm, waking up at 5 or 5:30 am to nurse then going back to bed until around 8 am. Today I couldn't make myself sleep in that later.

The big downside is that this change seems to be at the expense of his afternoon nap. I love the afternoon nap. I need the afternoon nap. The morning nap is great it's really long, 2+ hours, and I get lots done. But the afternoon nap helps me preserve my sanity. I just need an hour to take a nap or tune out and watch TV. Afternoons get really long with a little one. We will see how this evolved over the next couple weeks.

We had a wonderful weekend despite the Irish's pitiful performance last night. We went out with friends on Friday night to have some much needed adult time, and yesterday I helped out with Expanding Your Horizons at my work (it's a program for junior high girls to get them interested in technical fields). Then the Lee's came over to have dinner and watch the Irish. I'm glad they came over, it gave me an excuse to make a real meal. I've been super lazy about cooking recently. It is just that I want to spend my time in the evening with Daniel, not cooking dinner.

He is changing all the time now. He loves his toys and has discovered that he likes to be higher in space. Unfortunately, him pulling up on things leads to many more bumps and bruises. He is a pretty quick learner, so I think that letting him fail occasionally ultimately helps him master skills. It is kind of scary that Daniel has entered a phase where we need to help him devleop rather than just love him. We are expanding his finger food selection. Seeing him try to eat bananas is pretty amusing. He never knows what to think of new things in his mouth.

Here is a video of him trying to crawl. I'm starting to think that he is only going to do the army man crawl until he learns to walk.

Halloween and ND vs. Pitt Weekend

I have to warn you, this post will probably be really random. I just feel like so much has happened since I last posted. Daniel is more and more mobile each day. Each time he moves into a new part of the house under his own will, I'm amazed. I'm sure this is nothing big to most folks, but, as a new parent, you just get so accustomed to your child being in the same place when you leave a room and return that the possibility that they might actually decide to leave a room one day and actually do it is so far from your mind. Then when it happens, you are in shock. Weeks later, you are still in shock.

Daniel peeking at me from his hideout.

So we headed to ND on Friday. Me at 5:20 am. Matt, Daniel, and Dan at 11:30 am. I met with some engineers over lunch and spent the rest of my day shopping and hanging out on the couch. I was daydreaming on the way in and missed the exit, so when I drove by Macy's on my way back into town, I stopped. It was wonderful to shop without worrying about a stroller or diapers or naps or feeding someone other than myself. After my lunch meeting, I headed to the grocery store. I really enjoy grocery shopping alone. I have time to think about meals rather than just grabbing stuff and leaving.

Matt, Daniel, Dan, and my parents all arrived around 5 or 6 pm. We were going to go out to eat early, but it was so beautiful outside that we just hung out on the patio and enjoyed the wonderful weather. The first ND game my parents ever came to was the first weekend of November. It was freezing for that game, you know less than 32 degrees. This weekend it was in the 50s and 60s. Mom and I stayed home with Daniel while the men went to CJ's for burgers. Daniel decided that he was done when the sun went down. This weekend he slept the best he has ever slept while we were out of town. We put the pack'n'play in the walk-in closet where it was dark and quiet, and he was a happy camper.

Daniel and Grampie on the patio

I wonder what they are talking about?

Of course he had to wear the shamrock sleeper!

Since Daniel did not really get to enjoy trick'or'treat this year, we had him in his sock monkey outfit for tailgating. He was a great sport for about two hours, and then he wanted his freedom back. This kid likes to play and has a limited tolerance for chatting with adults in a civilized manner. Mom and I took him back to the condo and he fussed the whole way home. Once we put him on the floor with his toys, he was thrilled. Mom watched Daniel while I went to the game! I came home to relieve her at the thrid quarter so that she could see the band and go to mass with Dad. Luckily she found a nice enough usher to let her back in with my ticket. The first one rejected her request! It was only after I left the game that I realized that my Dad did not have a cell phone and we had no back up plan. Also, the halftime show was fantastic. They started with Mama Mia! and finished with Livin' on a Prayer and a guest appearance from Jon bon Jovi himself! (Katie, I called you for Mama Mia! I just remembered that you don't have your phone.)

So the weekend was great, and Daniel was great too. He made it the whole way home (4.5 hours of driving) with less than 5 minutes of fussing. Then today he decided to have a new bunch of firsts. He crawled on his hands and knees! We got a full hand-knee-hand-knee. He also pulled himself up to standing on the Exersaucer without assistance. Doesn't he look proud? I was so afraid that he was going to let go with one hand, swing himself to the floor, and smack his head while doing it. At least Matt was around to take the picture so that I could play guard.

Look at me, I'm standing!