Lots of pictures...

So alot has happened in the last 2 weeks and I figure I'll let the pictures tell most of the story...

Here are a couple adorable pictures that were on my camera from St. Patrick's Day.  I can't resist - this little girl just melts my heart with that smile!

Don't mind Ryan's incrediably flat hair.  This was taken first thing in the morning while his hair is still wet from shower and pre-volume. 

Maeve and I don't get many pictures together mainly because I'm usually the photographer, but here was a pre-walk picture. 

So besides the usual busy-ness from work, Maeve and I took alittle trip down to Florida for a couple days, while Ryan was in Vegas with the guys.  The weather was Amazing and it's always wonderful to see my family.  Maeve was a trooper on the flights and she probably couldn't have been better. 

All set and ready for the sun!

So my little bathing beauty completely rocked her bathing suit and hat. Both were from BabyGap.  I bought the hat in Fall on clearance and the suit was a present from Aunt Kerry. 

 Oh yeah, outfit isn't complete without the shades!

Needless to say, Maeve really wasn't out in the sun very much, but for the time she was she really enjoyed the pool and was so curious about the new texture of sand.  For those of you not familiar, Siesta Key sand may just be the softest in the world.  She just kept touching and holding in her hand.

We spent alot of time at the pool.  Here is my mom doing her exercises.  She literally treaded water for about 45 minutes without getting winded, as she continued to carry on conversations with Erin, Al and I no problem.  Erin's to the left and she could only do 10 minutes.  Al and I didn't even make an attempt... we suck!

Here is a little tent I bought thinking Maeve might chill at the beach in it, but it ended up working best for Miss Sawyer.  Here she is taking alittle break from the pool and sun just relaxing on some towels with Erin's iPhone.  The girl is a whiz with Apple products... she was pretty much showing me how to download YouTube videos and finding songs for Maeve for me. 

If you read Erin's blog, she attempted a photo session one morning with her girls.  I dressed Maeve up as well, but sadly no pictures of the girls together. 
Here she is rocking a cute dress from her cousins (think this might have been Ellie's) and her new South Carolina hat from Nana. 

 Sawyer exploring the beach and Gulf

This picture was about 10 minutes later when Sawyer had a minor meltdown.  She's absolutely sobbing here sitting off on her own in the middle of the beach.  She very well could be an actress some day!

 Ahh... the soft touch of Siesta Key beach

The best part of the trip was hands down the time with the family.  Here is Sawyer in the morning.  I'm amazed (and mildly jealous) of her hair volume and long eyelashes.  For a girl that took forever to get hair, she now has alot and it's wild!

 This was much of the response that I got from Miss Isla throughout the entire trip.  She was just alittle hesitant around us all and alittle bit of a Mommy's girl.  We know now it's because she was teething as her bottom teeth are finally coming in... hooray!  She's just the most petite little thing, but with plenty of spunk. 

The Kings have arrived!  Julie, Bill, and the girls drove in Friday night so it was wonderful to see the girls together and playing!

 Lauren getting buried in the sand.  She was the only one to volunteer, which doesn't surprise me in the least!

 The crew assisting in the burial...

Saturday evening we headed over to Mary & Duffy's for alittle birthday celebration for Colleen and Kelly Sugg.  So fun and another opportunity to spend some time with Grandpa Griffin!  Here are some pre-party shots as we tried to get some pictures of Sawyer, Isla, and Maeve.

 This picture cracks me up as Sawyer is so affectionate to Maeve and Isla's just doing her own thing.  Plus Sawyer & Maeve appear to share similar skin tone and chubby cheeks, while Isla's so petite and fair.   

Also on our trip, Maeve's 2nd tooth popped through.  You can just see them at the bottom of her mouth, next to all of the drool running down her face. 

Miss Alexa just being her adorable self

 My dad probably getting his only moment of silence while we were all visiting.  Both my mom and dad were so helpful and would watch Maeve so I could get a bit of sun myself.  The one afternoon my dad was in the condo by himself when Maeve woke up.  The story I heard was they were just playing on the floor and Maeve went to the bathroom (#2!!) and Dad had to change his first dirty diaper in about 28 years!!  He made sure to tell me how disgusting it was... yes Dad, I know, however I was impressed and embarrassed all at the same time. 

 Such a big girl out to dinner

 This picture just makes me smile.  We went down to the beach one night to watch the sunset after dinner.  Sawyer got her skirt wet from running into the Gult and wanted it off. She is just running around, carefree as can be, in her underwear!  Side note, she did tell me the next day that we couldn't go swimming in the gulf because the sun went in the water and it's too hot.  So perceptive she is.  We reassured her that the water wasn't hot and she was in it again.

 What a ham! 

 We arrived home on Monday and were back at work and school on Tuesday.  Wednesday I got a call from school that Maeve fell over and face planted right on a rattle.  It's alittle blurry in this pic, but she's got a shiner on her right cheekbone.  She's been fine, so it really is one of those "looks worse than it feels."  It wasn't even tender to the touch so we've survived her first battle wound.  She's not crawling yet, but she has been getting alot more adventurous reaching for toys and stretching out so more to come I'm sure. 

Maeve turned 7 months old during our trip to Florida.  Our little girl continues to grow and develop.  She's still loving eating and continues to eat everything we give her.  She's sleeping great, around 7:30pm - 6:30am, which is amazing on its own.  She must know how much her parents need their sleep.  She really has only rolled over a couple times and is spending much more time on her belly.  She's sitting up great and would prefer if we let her stand, while holding her up.  She is starting to hold her bottle, more playing than feeding (squirting formula all over the place), but it's a start. 

So lots of pictures to share.  Ryan had a great time in Vegas as well, but no pictures to share of that! What happens in Vegas...  April is another busy month with work, travel, and house projects but I'll try to stay on top of camera!

The Luck of the Irish

So I'm feeling very blessed this St. Patrick's Day.  The weather has been amazing and we had a wonderful weekend together with lots of family time.  We got to spend some time with Nana and Papa Daley who were in town for a visit and Maeve had a sleepover with Aunt Alicia and Uncle Jon on St. Patty's Day, while we had a wedding. The rest of the weekend involved open windows and lots of walks outside.  Ryan and I had plenty of flashbacks to celebrating at the parade and how much has changed... all for the better of course!

Here is Maeve rocking her new headband before school.  Ryan was doing drop-off that day so I wasn't sure he'd keep her in it, but Miss Amanda (one of Maeve's teachers) informed me at the end of the day that she had it on almost all day. 

So I bought a couple cute onesies in anticipation of the visit this week with Nana and Maeve's and my trip down to Florida to see Grandma & Grandpa.  This is what she greeted me with...haha!  I'm pretty sure she was just hungry and didn't want to wait while I snapped some pics.

Maeve got an amazing package this week from my girlfriend Niki with a glow seahorse and some adorable outfits.  Here she is playing with the seahorse, which is just like the glow worm that I had as a kid.  Maeve thought it was so funny when the belly lit up.  I just love her face here!

At my baby shower, Maeve got an amazing wool sweater from my cousin Mary Beth.  Fortunately, it was too big so I'll save it for next year because the weather has just been too warm to wear anything heavy like wool.  So I sent her to school on Friday in her Irish garb.  She's gotten little bits of her outfit from lots of our Irish family: the bib & wool hat below from Mary Beth, the Buffalo Irish onesie from my girlfriend Molly, and the hysterical headband from Nana's cousin Mary.  Our beautiful little Irish lass!  I bought the pants, but this was the last weekend of wear.  She was sporting a mini muffin top.

We bundled up alittle for our morning walk to Tim Hortons for coffee.  She pretty much just chilled in the stroller watching the cars go through the drive-through while we enjoyed our coffee.  I wonder how much longer we have before she wants to get out and run all over the place...

Saturday we had Greg & Sue's wedding, which was alot of fun and a great way to spend St. Patrick's Day.  Quality time with the Daleys and a fun night out in general for Ryan and I.  It's funny how exhausted we are after an evening out.  Al and Jon were awesome to take Maeve overnight so we can get alittle more sleep.  Of course I was up early, but I'm a creature of habit.  Ryan was able to sleep in so at least one of us took advantage of a child-less morning.    We've got a busy upcoming week with a girls trip to Florida to see Mom and Dad and Ryan heading to Vegas for a bachelor party with the guys.  Just need to survive one more day of work...

Here is a picture that Al took from their walk at Chestnut Ridge after Maeve's nap.  Such a diva. 

Weekend Chaos

This was no typical weekend...
Tim & Courtney came into town from Denver for their godson's baptism so Friday night Greg & Jenn threw a party at their house.  Fortunately, Michelle had been so wonderful to do a sleepover with Maeve at her house so Ryan and I could get a night out, but more for potential to sleep in on Saturday.  Party was so fun (as usual at the Finnerty's) and so much more relaxing just knowing I didn't have to anticipate a 6am wake-up. So of course I stay out until 2:30am and wake up by 8am, but it was still wonderfully, deep sleep.  Maeve did great at Michelle's so let's hope her ability to sleep all places like me continues.  On a side note, they ordered pizza from Picasso's and it was quite tasty that I'll be mixing it up soon from our usual Edies/Nino's pizza runs.

Little Miss sitting up and checking out her playyard from a new angle

Oh there's the camera... Smile!

Oops, someone had to go #2 right after.  Maeve will probably want to disown me as a teenager for sharing this, but shit happens...

Saturday we got alittle more time with Tim & Courtney at the baptism party with all of the Loehfelms.  So fun and it reiterated my belief that Pintrest is taking over the world.  All the food served were recipes found on Pintrest.  Lots of good ideas - like that cakepops are amazing! 

Sunday was gorgeous out and we took a family walk with Kyle, Kassi, and Rudy (their dog) up at Chestnut Ridge and then we headed over the Heather & Matt's to drop off Evan's late 2nd birthday present.  We were only about 1 1/2 weeks late.  Look at Mara feeding Maeve!  She really is getting so big and mature for an almost 5 year old - She did a great job!

We were planning on one more stop to Courtney's parents house but the whole family lost momentum.  Can you see Ryan in the picture?  About 10 minutes later he was on Heather's couch under blanket.  Two late nights in a row makes for a very tired Ryan.  So back to our house to chill.  After Maeve's nap we had a little fashion show in preparation for our trip to Florida next week. 

As you can see, fashion show got old pretty quick, but she does look adorable.  The last two dresses were alittle big so hoping we can wear them in the upcoming months.  The green one might be her Easter dress in April... so cute!

On a food note, I was combing Wegmans aisles last weekend and found this...

Alittle pricey at $4.99 (I think), but Ryan and I are both huge fans of roasted butternut squash so figured I'd give it a try.  I made it last night with mini raviolis and it was yummy!  Garlicky and delicious.  I will be purchasing again. 

So the weekend flew by and I'm hoping the week does too...