An (almost) Two-Year-Old, A Broken Computer & A New Baby

I am in disbelief that I will have a 2 year old in two months! This age is the best. The. Best. Liam makes me smile and laugh at least a million times a day. He is so affectionate (I'm still his favorite - hooray!!) and the things that come out of his mouth are pure awesome. I love seeing his mind develop and learn right before my eyes. Ever since we diagnosed his dairy allergy he seems happier, too, which has been wonderful. It's hard not to feel bad, though, about the year and a half he probably had an upset tummy. Poor little guy. It also makes me mad at all the doctors who brushed away my concerns. From now on I will be a bull for my baby when it comes to his health and my gut feelings.

I know I've been MIA lately - and I do really miss blogging! But the reason is that my laptop fizzled out on me and that's where all of my pictures are... so blogging will be sporadic until I get my new mac-book (I am so excited!! Hooray for tax returns!) I will be a much better blogger when that happens :-)

In other news.... I have a new nephew! Patrick Calvin was born January 18th and is now 6 weeks old. I wish I had a picture to share - he is gorgeous! He is a sweet baby and we are all positively smitten with him.

My sweet boy. That smile makes me melt!

He Loves his Brother Already

Patrick and Jude

"Hi, baby!"

A Post all about Liam!

He's talking up a storm now - here are some of the funnier things he says:

• He calls my sister "Mama Jo-Jo"
• Exclaims "Oh me, oh my!"
• Doesn't say "Grandma" but calls Justin's mom "Go Irish" (He calls my mom Mimi)
• He loves his Pop-pop and asks for him ALL the time. He's been working a lot lately and when asked where Pop-pop is he says "working." 
• He's amazed by pretty much everything and his favorite way to vocalize that is to say "oh, wowwww!"
• Knows not to touch "Daddy's books"
• Is happy to serve you "hot tea" and will top you up when it's "all gone" (good Irish lad!)
• When we tell him that we love him he says "I know, I know"

What he's doing:

• Loves his new kitchen from Santa!
• Obsessed with building Lego towers and airplanes
• Loves pointing out what colors things are (so far knows blue, yellow, green, orange and sometimes pink and purple. Refuses to say red for some reason!).
• Counting... but only to two, ha ha! 
• Reading... the kid loves his books! Especially Olivia goes to Venice, The Little Engine that Could and Moo, Baa, La La La

Stats:

• 20 months old. Currently weighs 26 lbs and is pretty tall - not sure of that measurement!

A few favorite photos from the last couple of months:

Harvest Party at the Burrow - with cousin, Jude

Cousins!! 

"Cheese!"

"Why aren't I wearing mittens, mom?"

Jude and Liam - Christmas 2011

 The fam - Christmas 2011

Just an Update

Things have been super crazy lately and I feel so out of the loop! It's mostly due to me starting work. I'm subbing! I subbed about 5 years ago before I got my first job in marketing and found it to be a great transitional "for now" job. Now the added bonus is it's flexible and the hours are great - I get to be home with Liam for the second half of the day! Another contributing factor to my busyness is the fact that we're temporarily living with my mom - so I've been accompanying her on a few little excursions here and there - appointments, dinners etc - I'm not used to having so much time with family - it's very nice to be so close (too close?!) for a while. It's going to get a little crazier too, because my sister and her little family are moving in this weekend. Are we nuts?! Yes, I think we most definitely are. Kelly graduates from nursing school tomorrow (congratulations, sis!) and Joel starts seminary across the state in January, hence the move. Until they find a house to buy, we'll all be under the same roof! Oh - and Kelly is due to have baby Patrick in early January! Let the madness begin....

My dad's Iraqi friend, "Jimmy" has been on my mind a lot too. He's currently in Syria and just sent the rest of his family back to Iraq because it is so dangerous there right now. He can't go with them because there are people that want him dead in Iraq. We've got our senator working on finding out what the delay is in moving them to the US, but the process is painfully slow. I'll post the back-story sometime soon. For now please just pray for Jimmy's family's safety.

Happy Thanksgiving

Where-ever you are, have a happy day! We're off to Chicago to enjoy the day with Justin's side of the family. Updates when we return!

Happy Birthday to Me!

As the years go by it's natural for birthday to get less and less important. In college I think I used to celebrate the whole week long! Now it's easy for me to forget my birthday is even drawing near. Also, I think we start to think about birthdays differently as we get older. I, for one don't mind getting older... I enjoy learning more, and knowing more about myself and my family - only time can do that. I see smile lines as gifts... memories of joyful times past. frown lines remind me that I've experienced pain and sadness, and that's okay too.

Since I had Liam, I think about my parents much more on my birthday. They did give me the gift of life, after all. And did a pretty good job raising me (if I do say so myself!). It's a special day for moms and dads too. This year I won't get to see or call my dad and thank him, but I'm pretty sure he already knows.

Proud new parents!

My mom and I

A Day Late and a Dollar Short

I was informed today that I missed a very special someone by just a few days in Dublin. Apparently, my boyfriend, Michael Buble made the trip to switch on the Christmas lights on Grafton Street and unveil the Brown Thomas window display. Why our managers didn't coordinate our schedules, I have no idea.

Photo from rte.ie

I guess I'll still buy your new Christmas CD, MB....