Video of the week #2: Shake shake shake

One of our good friends Patrick made a nice, wood-crafted rattle for Maureen, complete with her initials stamped. She really loves playing with it.

Random photos over the last couple of weeks.

Video of the week: laughing in the face of danger

Who needs precaution. I laugh at your attempt to keep me safe!

Please keep reading.

It's been kind of busy here lately. Just a quick recap of recent events:
Maureen seems to be getting a little more cranky these days. We attribute it to potential teeth cutting in, but her sleep patterns have been varied, and her schedules have changed in the last week. School has started, so Aunt Kathy and GMK are not available for watching Maureen during the day. Kristin is doing some shifting of her schedule to accommodate, and we are using Maureen's teacher a bit more for day care. Mo loves Miss U, and vice versa.
It was nice to visit with Aunt Chrissy during her week-long stay - we met up with her and GPJ at the St. Joe's picnic on Saturday. GPJ won Maureen an ELMO basketball, and I won a big pan of brownies at the cake booth - 100 was the winning number.
Friday night was date night so Maureen spent a few hours with Cousin Claire, Uncle John and Aunt Mickie. She was in heaven with all the toys at her fingertips. From what I hear, Maureen wanted to play with anything Claire was playing with at the time. She hasn't had a lot of playtime with children close to her age since the end of the Parents Day Out year, so it was nice to see her with her cousin. PDO starts in less than one month and we should back into a normal routine once again.

Update 8/9/07

We believe Maureen is done with baby food and prefers to feed herself. She goes through spurts of what she wants to eat, but for the most part she likes bananas, pretzels, bread, chicken and turkey (oh, yeah, and CHEESE). We need to start pushing veggies a little more now, but she seems to be a pretty good little eater. She is taking huge goose steps when she is being walked while holding on to some one's hands. Yesterday morning we had a picture of a bear and she was making growling noises imitating what the bear says. She spent the day at GMK and GMP's house yesterday and you could tell she had a fun and active time. They have the perfect family room for someone Mo's age, a plush carpet and plenty of room to roam with few trouble spots. The steps will be an issue in a few months. We are really thinking about her one year birthday coming up. Hard to believe in some respects.

She is starting to stir in her bed now - I have to go get her ready for the day. More to come.

Photos from "Great News" Entry

Photo 1: Erin & Jeff

Photo 2: Mojo looking for an escape route

Photo 3: Chrissy juggling children

Photo 4: Mojo, Claire & Bear

Photo 5: Cousin Claire

Great News!

Great news, Mojo’s favorite aunt (besides Aunt Kathy and Aunt Chrissy - ooops, and Carrie, Kristi & Mickey - thanks babe) got a big ol’ diamond ring from her now-fiancé Jeff. It happened Saturday morning. We were able to see the newly engaged couple a few hours later as my family participated in a special fund-raiser walk in memory of Jeff’s sister, Ethel, and for the rehabilitation lounge at a local hospital in her name. The walk also supports projects such as a pediatric rehab lectureship series and a summer pediatric day camp program. The event was very nice – they had T-shirts designed for all participants, a bike ride and a walk for all levels, chances sold for a bevy of prizes, a yummy bar-b-que lunch, and Radio Disney on hand to entertain the kids. The only slight down-side was the scorching weather, but that was not a big deal at all.
Erin and Jeff seem very happy. We had a cookout last night that was originally planned to welcome Maureen’s Aunt Chrissy – she is in town for a week on vacation – but it turned into an engagement party. I don’t think Chrissy minded sharing the spotlight. Maureen was very excited to see Cousin Claire. Right now I think the age gap is still a bit too big for them to focus their efforts on playing together, but it is not too far off in the future (Claire is almost exactly one year older than Mo.)
This week is quite busy, though we hope Aunt Chrissy will be able to babysit one evening so she can catch up with Mo, and so we can have a night out on the town. I guess I better get that nailed down. I will add some photos of the weekend later tonight.

Photo of the day.

Bathing Beauty.

Taken moments ago at the pool.

Thanks Dad!

Thanks goes out to Grandpa Joe for watching Mo on short notice yesterday. And also to Uncle Joe and Aunt Erin for back-up support. Maureen had a great time.

End of July, 2007

It's becoming harder and harder to write entries about how Maureen is progressing because the changes, though monumental, are also gradual. She is crawling around like she's always known how, says the most amazing things and eats real foods like turkey, chicken, grapes, bread, pasta, and most of all, cheese. She loves Kraft Singles and will push anything else out of her way to get at it. I have a feeling it won't be long before she adds shells to her weekly staple. When I say shells, I am referring to Kristin's family comfort food, which is basically shell pasta covered in tomato juice. I am not allowed to publicly mock this delicacy as the roots run deep and too many key people swear by this closely guarded recipe. I will not go into the smell of this treat, especially when served as breakfast fare. This group of shell devotees are also the Cheez-it Ambassadors and heaven forbid you call them Cheese Nips in front of any one of these ambassadors (though I must admit, it is fun to push the limits.)

Back to Mojo - as mentioned in previous entries, she is crawling and pulling herself up to a standing position. She is really into playing with dolls - her favorites include Baby (one of those soft bodied dolls with a plastic head, hands and feet), bi-lingual Elmo, Puppers (her plush doggy who has been with her since the beginning) and Monkey (a stuffed Monkey that I actually gave to Kristin on our first Valentines Day together - we call each other Monkey - kissy-kissy!) Maureen understands who's who and can correctly pick out baby for kisses when instructed to do so.

Last night we went down to the riverfront for a concert on the lawn, an event that happens every last Wednesday of the month, sponsored by the local public radio station. One of my clients is a sponsor of the event so we get preferred parking - last night's password was Fancy Pants. I felt like an idiot yelling out "Fancy Pants" from my car window to the parking lot attendee but the reward was well worth the embarrassment. Maureen saw all kinds of interesting sights: mostly babies, doggies, yuppies and hippies. She loved sitting on the grass and grabbing handfuls. She even danced to the music.

Her latest words include Ba-Ba (we think it's either Mama, baby or bottle, but we are not sure - GPP thinks it means Grandpa, but we're positive that is incorrect) and E-I-E-I-E-I, which I'm pretty sure means E-I-E-I-O, as in Old McDonald (we prefer the Irish Mc version over the Scottish Mac version). We are still waiting for the first tooth to push through and keep saying "any day now." Many babies we know in her age range already have teeth. We will be a bit sad to see them because her smile is so cute without them - plus we know the process of cutting teeth is not the most comfortable for the baby. But you can't stop progress.

Well, I think this is enough for now. Here's the most up-to-date photo. More to come.

Christmas in July.

We went to Holiday World/Splashin Safari yesterday. Maureen loved spending time in the water with Granny.

Here's proof!

SHE CAN CRAWL

Maureen Josephine officially crawled, on her own, for more than just a couple of creeps yesterday! Hurray! Now it's time to baby proof the house.

Kissing the baby.

Here's Mojo kissing her baby doll and finishing up in the splits.

Elmo chair.

Happy Friday the 13th!

Apparently, as Kathy and the kids (including Maureen) strolled through the aisles of Toys R Us, Mojo was hit by a lightning bolt. Her eye caught the most beautiful thing she had ever seen in her nine months on earth. Her body stiffened to absorb the shock; her eyes got as big as, well, Elmo's; and her mouth made her now famous Ooooh Ooooh (picture Arnold Horshack when he raised his hand in Kotter's classroom.) What she locked in on was the Elmo chair you see in the photo above. Kathy did not buy the chair on the spot, but was so moved by Maureen's excitement that she had to go back and buy it for her. It was a very nice gesture indeed, and I think she will cherish the chair for years to come.

I'm not sure what power Elmo holds over youngsters. He wasn't even a character until after the death of Jim Henson (don't quote me on that - go to Wikipedia and check it out before passing this on as truth.) It's amazing how marketing affects everyone, even the youngest of consumers. I have a feeling this is the tip of the iceberg with Mr. Elmo. I kind of like the little guy, though I can't wait for the Sponge Bob phase.

The movie below shows Maureen dancing to the Sesame Street theme song, emanating from her Spanish Speaking Elmo doll. He sings it both in English and Spanish.

Photo of the day - Eating!

Maureen crawled just a little bit today, reaching for her Elmo doll. Not a full out crawl, but it looks like she's starting to understand the mechanics. I took her to her PDO teacher's house today and she cried a bit as she clung (is that a word?) to my shoulder. She is still a bit afraid of the lady's husband - we think it's his voice. She loves her teacher though. We have about a month more of this shuffling around until PDO starts back up, but Maureen is getting great face time with her grandparents P&K and Aunt Kathy and the kids.

Mojo documentary.

Last night we watched a tape of our Mojo home movies from birth to 8 months. Its really cool to see how much growth takes place in one year. You could see hints of Mo's personality as early as a few days old, and we got to hear how silly our conversations with this little baby were. We started our second tape on Sunday, and hope to get our first tape over to Uncle John's house to burn a DVD copy for us.

It was good to have lunch with GP Joe and family, and then dinner with GP Paul and family on Saturday. I think it's important to constantly surround Maureen with family - that's what its all about, eh?

I will post some new pictures this week.

Video of the week: Soooooo Big

A few more pictures to brighten your day.

Photo 1: Cousins A & G.

Photo 2: Mojo with a fun toy (the box)

Photo 3: Cousin A shakin' her bootay!

Special thanks goes out to Aunt Erin and her posse for babysitting last night so we could go see the Lion King.