Baby Steps

I can't believe we're nearly rounding out a year with our darling girl. In the past few days she's started to articulate words, which has been very exciting, and even said "Jesus" out of the blue ("blue," her other word), which was the greatest of gifts to me on Monday morning. She was looking at our collection of statues, pointed at them, and said "Jesus." How crazy is that?! (okay, it came out more like dee-jes, but still.) Also, her habit of saying "mom" has returned after a few week hiatus. It warms my heart, especially after she's been saying "daddy" for a good two months now.

Anyway, here's the latest of our family fun:





She loves this chair and has recently been hearing a lot of "no" and "sit!" as a result of its use.

Oh, snap!

Things have been pretty quiet around our house for the last month or so; and I mean that in a good way. We haven't traveled for over a month and I think all three of us are really enjoying weekends in our home--cooking, cleaning, the farmer's market down the block, a visit from a friend or two, and lately, Bears games. The slow-pace has been rejuvenating after a summer that came and went before we ever got a chance to go to the pool.

I say "quiet" but I certainly don't mean uneventful. Last weekend, on the official date of Maureen's 11-month milestone, she started walking. We'd seen a few steps here and there, but she was determined to get the remote from Joe's hand--so determined that she walked across the living room for it. It took well over a week to capture this video, but here is the proof:



I'll follow that one up with a new trick that caught us by surprise:



It is hard to believe that we're nearly rounding out a year since our little girl was born. She's darn cute and we're so happy she continues to surprise us every day.

All her yammering cracks me up.

Maureen is really flourishing--it has been an incredible few weeks watching her personality develop and seeing her become more independent. Here are a few more videos from the past weeks:


In our last efforts to enjoy summer at our apartment, we dined al fresco and ate spaghetti. Maureen mastered the art of asking for more AND slurping the noodles.



Our friends Dan and Sandy joined us for a picnic at the Morton Arboretum. We ventured into the Children's Garden and found this marble ball/ fountain thing that Maureen loved (it had water on it, go figure that she loved it!) I would argue that the afternoon was probably more fun for us, the adults, wandering through all the kid stuff.



More from the Arboretum. Maureen the rule-breaker--



And this one is just fun. All her yammering cracks me up.

Tupperware Party

I've been a bit concerned that some of the videos we take just come across to you, the reader, as "another baby video" despite how funny it may be to Joe and me. Grandpa Don says this is far from the case, so I will do my best to update a bit more. Plus, things are pretty exciting 'round the house now that Maureen is moving so much. Speaking of, she took a single step over the weekend. It was exciting.

Maureen loves to play in the tupperware drawer as I do dishes, but it caught Joe and me off-guard when she climbed into on her own:

A summer of weddings and giggles

This past weekend was Anne and Phil's wedding--an event we'd been excited about for well over a year. It was so wonderful to take time off of work and head North for a long weekend of festivities. I remember thinking when they'd gotten engaged that our baby would be ten months old. It is incredible to me how much she's grown and become a tiny person.

Sadly, we left our camera at Joe's parents' so I don't have many pictures from the weekend, but here are a few from the past months:

My cousin Bridget was married earlier in the summer.  Here is the beautiful bride escorted by her dad.

We were attempting a family picture here, although I kind of like that my dad ended up in it too.

Maureen crawls...on Grandma's car.

Maureen found the perfect thing for her "western" themed outfit for the rehearsal dinner.
Oh Fleet Farm, you have everything!

Joe took this one on his phone as everyone was scurrying to get ready for Anne's wedding day.
 A seemingly quiet moment--I love it.

Lately Maureen has acted like she's ready for bed, so we attempt to put her down, but she gets a serious second wind--I swear she's gone batty. Here is an example of her entertaining herself.


I LOVE this laugh. She doesn't laugh like this very often--a real baby belly laugh (if there is such a thing). It really tugs at my heart to see the two of them playing together and laughing so much.

We're still here!

As it just so happens we DO still exist, although the lack of posts to this blog seems to say otherwise.

Maureen is crawling like crazy and I'm convinced she'll be walking on her own pretty soon as well. She's been a go-getter even from day one and something simple like leg strength isn't going to keep her from marching across the room.

She's also doing a lot of yammering, has been eating solid foods, asking for more, and clapping. I was able to capture it all into one video:



And here are a few more from the past month:

(Our attempt to deter Maureen from touching the TV and other devices by placing a board in front)

2011 Spring Thaw

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