C and D

C and D

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Capital T Trouble



He finagled his legs out, turned around and stood up..............we are just about out of this high chair, let me tell you. On to the big kids chair..................

Someone likes Arroz con Pollo.......................

And his name rhymes with Schmeclan!

Such a weirdo - he is picky here and there and then all of a sudden, he'll eat all of my sloppy joe or my mexican dish. He ate it three nights in a row - I kept trying to have my leftovers for dinner and Declan kept eating them! He was into the chicken, the avocado, the rice, peppers and onions - all of it. So weird! And then he puts his nose up at blueberries..............................go figure. Love you buddy :)

Monday, February 21, 2011

Full moon................and the day after!

Holy flippin' moly. Friday was a bad day. Bad bad day - Friday night was even worse. I've always heard that when a full moon comes, people get crazy. I might have experienced that Friday night............poor little buddy has had a cold for a few days now and when I picked him up from daycare on Friday he was just so so sad looking :( His eyes were blood shot and watery and he was just Mr Snuggles...............which is rare. He rarely never sits still and he was just laying with Tammy and didn't move when I get home. Again - rare - usually he runs over to me :)

So let's repeat - Friday was pretty rough and I was looking forward to coming home and getting some rest and just relaxing. Buddy had different plans - went down at 7pm as usual. 7:30, up and screaming. From time to time Declan will wake up randomly, cry for a second but go back to sleep and I never go up there for fear of really waking the beast. This was different - he was up and NOT HAPPY. I went up, sang to him and we cuddled and he fell asleep on my chest. The minute I put him in his crib, screaming. I let him cry because I knew he was exhausted and he eventually fell asleep...............until 9:30. Again, up and screaming. Same snuggle, sing and rock fest......he falls asleep on my chest. Put him in the crib, scream-fest. I let him cry and again he falls asleep until 10:30 - ahhhhhh!!! So at that point I was so tired from the day so I just brought him into bed with me and let him sleep on my chest for a solid 45 minutes and then again, he's up. The poor kid couldn't breathe to save his life and I think the only thing that made him feel better was his mommy......................can't argue with that can you? And as much as I love having him so close to me, he's a monster and he flails and makes so much noise when he's sleeping that we just do better in separate rooms :) So I flushed his nose out good and put him in his crib where he finalllyyyyyyyyyyy went to sleep after more cries :( So sad. And at that point I called Paul (which was probably close to 1am his time) because I was so at a loss and I was a mess. More than anything, I just needed to hear Paul's voice and I'm guessing Declan did too..........................
So as great as it is that Declan sleeps so amazing, when something like this happens I just don't know what to do - he's not a kid that you need to rock to sleep or that needs a lot of comforting..............he's pretty self-sufficient and a phenomenal self-soother so when he needed that, I was so thrown off and I just had no idea what to do. It was like he was a week old again and I was in a full-on fog, exhausted and clueless as to what my little boy needed to make him feel better. Oh it was terrible.
Thankful he finally fell asleep though.............I, however, did not and every two seconds I thought I heard him crying. Needless to say, Saturday morning I drank a whole pot of coffee. Looooooong night, I really don't remember one like that since probably he was a month or two old. Crazy. We are freakishly lucky to have such a great sleeper but like I said, since it had probably been 10 months since we had 3 or 4 random wake-ups, I didn't know what to do. I'm so sorry honey.........................blame it on the full moon!

Fast forward to the next day and he woke up a littttttle bit better. We had two showings and we had to be out from 10:30 - 3:30 so we packed up and headed to the Hempens. Luckily he slept for a good 3 hours up in Bill and Steph's closet and was ready to roll when he woke up. Oh its so good to have my little man back!
Playing on the trampoline!






Playing ball with the big boys! I LOVE LOVE LOVEEEEEE (I cannot say how much I love) watching Declan play with kids - the minute Lucas and his buddies came over Decky went right over and raised his hands to me so I could pick him up to lift him on to the trampoline. He wants so badly to be a big kid he can't stand it.

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Pics from the Bday weekend!




































Birthday buddy!

Phew! Big weekend for the little buddy! Paul and Nana were in town and he had parties galore to attend :) Thursday we had his daycare party:


It was so cute and I absolutely cannot say enough how great this daycare is. Tammy, the lady who takes care of him is phenomenal, Declan LOVES her, he's thrived under her care and he is so beyond happy hanging out with the other kids. I wish we could take this daycare with us to SC!!

Friday, little buddy woke up and we had a nice little breakfast where he and Daddy played.......
(Side note here - Declan wanted nothing to do with anyone but Paul this weekend - shockingly, I wasn't even jealous :) It was too cute, all he wanted was daddy and Paul loved every single second - last night he told me he was almost in tears because of how sweet it was. Declan genuinely missed his Daddy. Very cool.)


Little buddy wasn't wanting to nap (go figure - every time he senses excitement ie Christmas, birthday) he refuses to sleep - he just wants to party! So we had a fun little day with the buddy and went over the Bill's for a birthday party/going away party for Daddy!
ALLLLLLLLLLLLL I wanted was to get "that picture" - you know, the one where cake is smashed all the baby's face and they're cracking up, loving having icing in their ears etc.

Yea - not so much: My little texture freak of a baby wanted nothing to do with cake - BOO!!!


We had such a great, busy weekend and I cannot believe our little man is already 1 years old. It is absolutely ridiculous. We have his 12 month check-up this week so I will update with all his stats then but just know he is the sweetest, happiest, cutest little boogar ever! WE LOVE YOU DECKY!!!!!!!!!!

Enough said.

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Poop in the tub.........

.....................................And you get quarantined in the shower!





Of course, he loved the shower so not sure if I really made my point here........


NO POOP FOR YOU!

Pretty pics

"Good morning, Daddy!" 

Brown bear, brown bear on the way home from school - atta baby!


Took 5 seconds for him to figure out how to climb up here and get to his old swing............let the climbing games begin

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

HE DID IT!

So Nana started the process over the weekend of trying to get Declan to turn himself around on his tummy and Sunday we spent well over an hour going up and down, turning round and round and he finally GOT IT!!!!! YAY BUDDY!!!! I turned around for A minute tonight and he had thrown his blankey down the stairs and was halfway down on the way to retrieval. He is so stinkin' smart, this kid! Very coachable ;) I like it.

PS - again with the blankey! How cute is he with that thing.................he is so sweet these days, he will lay his head down on almost anything when you say "Declan can you be sweet" or "Declan, say "awwwwww" " - its hilarious. And incredibly adorable.

Monday, February 14, 2011

My Valentine......

Is an honest man.

He's extremely hard working and dedicated to not only our family but also his new program! (where he is going to be fan-friggin-tastic!)

Is absolutely hilarious and makes me laugh harder than anyone else in my life.

Loves our little boy so very much - sometimes I worry he loves him more than me ;) but when I see the two of them together I feel like the world is alright. Right now, they are best friends, so I'll cherish these sweet little moments because I know when Declan's 15 and trying to get away with murder it will be quite a different story.

Knows how much I love to be surprised and even though I'm super antsy and try to anticipate when one might be coming, he's way better than me and did it again for Valentine's Day ;)

Is my better half - calm, confident, creative (three c's??) very happy-go-lucky, full of common sense and a man of great faith.

Is a much better chef than me even though he makes me cook all the time ;)

Gives really really REALLY good hugs - and usually knows just the right time to give them and stop giving me a hard time ;)

Is an unbelievably proud Irish Yankee man - so loyal to his upbringing and while I can't relate at all to the New York or Irish gig, I love how much he loves where he came from and I hope/know he will pass on this pride to our son.

Is above all, my very best friend in this world and there's no one I would rather walk thru it with. No one. And I mean that. He is so strong, so steady, so honest, so loving, so TRUE. I honestly feel like every day is Valentine's Day with him..........I love you baby. Happy Love Day - today and always.


My Yankee man with his city in the background........this is how I love to think of him and will ALWAYS think of him. Such a proud man :)

Thursday, February 10, 2011

To my little love bug, love muffin, boogar bear...........

Dearest Declan Brady - 
   How do you put into words the amount of love a mother has for her child..........her first born child. I know you can't play favorites but damnit, Declan, you are my FAVORITE!!!!!!!!!!! :) This whole past year has been the most challenging yet easily the most fruitful year of my life. When your daddy and I first got together and up until this day, I look at him and I think "there's no way anyone could love another person the way and how much I love Paul...no way." But there is.....because I love you in a different way, but I love you just as much. When I hear you giggling and talking to yourself in the morning in your crib, my heart melts. When we're driving and I look in the rearview mirror back at you and you see me, I can't help but break out into the biggest grin on earth and you quickly follow with the same. When we're in different rooms and all of a sudden you walk over to me with the biggest smile on your face waving and holding your hands up for me to pick you up and cuddle, I just crumble a little bit inside. 
  Sometimes I hug you too tight little boy and I'm so sorry but I just want to hold onto these moments forever. Literally forever. I want to freeze time and remember this particular goodnight kiss or that particular smile and laugh you gave me. After your bottle right before bed these days you will drop your bottle to the side of the chair, you turn over on my chest so we are heart to heart (my favorite!!) and you will either go to sleep right there OR you will be mr. flirty and we'll giggle back and forth for a few minutes. Your new favorite thing is trying to find my face in the dark, putting your forehead to mine and we both shake our heads "no" and you giggle like the little crazy man that you are :) It is absolutely hysterical and as much as I love it, I try not to get you too riled up so our little fun mommy/Declan time doesn't last too long at night.......but truth be told, I would stay up there until the wee hours of the morning and do that with you if I wasn't such an uptight sleep freak mom :) 
  Like I said before, I look at you buddy, and I swear there has never been nor will there ever be a baby as cute and happy as you are right now. My heart bursts with the amount of love I feel for you honey and while I never knew I could be this happy along with your daddy, I am so thankful we are where we are and we are with who we are with. God put me on this earth to be your mommy, I am sure of it. And we are a team, you and me. You have given me one of the greatest gifts imaginable, and I want to thank you because you are only 1 year old but you have made me such a better person. I always say how important it is for the people in your life to challenge you and while I hope you grow up to surround yourself with those who are only going to lift you higher, little Decky, you have made me soar. And you don't even know it. Before you, I was probably a little too dependant on your dad for my own happiness. He just lights up my life and I feel more myself with him than without him. That is not a bad thing, but when he travels as much as he does, it just got to be pretty exhausting going from so high when he was around to so low when he was gone. Enter...........you! When you were first born, daddy was able to stay home for about a week with us and it was an absolutely PHENOMENAL week. But, it was only a week. He had to go back to work pretty quickly and in just a few short weeks, he was back on the road recruiting! I honest to goodness thought there was no way I could take care of you on my own and I had a major meltdown but my mom said something to me that I will never forget and I think has, along with you, spurred this change in me. She said "yes you will.....you will be strong if for no other reason than you need to be strong for that little boy." It wasn't about me anymore. It was about you. I needed to be strong, confident, self-assured and positive for YOU. You were so little, Declan, but I would look at you and you gave me the strength I needed when I didn't think I could face a day, let alone a night, let alone a week full of nights :) all by myself. My goal has always been and will continue to be to raise a confident, independant, strong, respectful, happy and healthy young man but how can I do that if I'm not all of the above myself. So there it was. I couldn't rely on daddy to make me happy, I had to do it myself and I have to say little buddy..............................you were the key to it all.
  Declan, you are only a year old, but you have given me the best gift of all. Yourself. And you've given me a little chunk of myself back. I love you more than words will ever say and more than you will ever know - and that's ok. Its ok to not be able to express it - its just a feeling and I hope to the heavens one day you will get to have this feeling with your own baby because there is nothing better in this whole universe. I love you, I love you, I love you. Happy 1st Birthday to the sweetest little boy ever to walk this earth. Thank you for the best year of ALL of our lives :) 
Mommy

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Due date!

I don't know if its going to be like this the rest of my life but every Thursday I think about the Thursday that Declan was born..............every day around 4pm I think about the moment that he finally entered this world. Every month on the 11th, I think "oh gosh Declan's 7 months old now........" and now, on February 8th, I'm taken back to one year ago today, thinking holy smokes little buddy, you are late and I am OVERRRR this pregnancy!!!!!! We went to the doctor in the morning where she told us, "yep, nothing new, we'll plan on seeing you Thursday for the induction" - not the news I was looking for but it did give my mom, Paul and I a wonderful few days together just enjoying our time...........the last few days before Declan Brady Hogan came into our lives and changed everything forever.

February 8th was a great day. It was a day I looked forward to for 9 months straight. February 11th was even better.

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Video blog?

I apologize...........................I have absolutely no flippin' clue where my camera charger is :( My camera's been dead for a few weeks and I don't think we will find it until we unload everything in SC which could easily be months. All I have right now is my phone sooooooooooooo videos is all you're gonna get.
AH! Anyone have a charger I can borrow?!?!?!!!?!?

Every.Single.Night


He is such an animal. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.

GiGi and PopPop!

Eating breakfast with PopPop! They look like TWINS!!!!!!!!


So our trip back East wouldn't have been possible without the help of my mom and dad!!!!! Sunday night thru Tuesday night, they had little buddy so that A) Paul and I could spend some time together and B) we could really be productive and not worry about being back at the house so someone could nap................ya feel me?

I can honestly say, not once did I worry if he was eating ok or napping well or happy and playing - whatever. To be frank, I think he might have had more fun there than with me in Colorado! We now are going to have get a dog though because little buddy had SOOOO much fun with my parent's dogs. They bonded. In a serious way and I loved getting videos from my mom of the babies playing together :) Below are a couple good videos that my mom sent me!

THANK YOU MOM AND DAD!!!!! LOVE YOU SOOOOO MUCH - can't wait to actually get to see you guys on a regular basis - what a concept!






OH OH OH - My dad made his first bottle EVER :) My mom had to teach a class one morning so Jimbo was on baby duty :) and he did amazing...........but he had to make his first bottle among other things and I know he was super nervous. Merging companies probably seems easy to him compared to taking care of a crazy almost 1 year old. Just ask him......he'll tell ya. Proud of you daddy!

Almost back East..........FOR GOOD!!!

Last Saturday morning, Declan and I packed up ourselves and hopped on a flight to Charlotte! Shoutout to the very nice flight attendant who voila - made the seat next to me suddenly appear open so that we could take Decky's carseat on and he could nap! Shoutout to the very rude flight attendant who made me back up all the way down the aisle with a diaper bag on my back and a baby in the front so she could walk down the aisle for really no reason.............I was almost to the potty, chic!....instead I hit every single person with the diaper bag (those aisles are the most narrow things on this planet!) on my way back down and then back up but that's another story for another day.
  Either way - WE MADE IT! And Declan and Paul had the best hug everrrrrrr in the airport. I cried like a big ole sissy watching the two of them. It was so beautiful, so long overdue, and so heart melting :)


Saturday was a GORGEOUS day in Charlotte so we played, played, played outside......ALL of my brothers were there which is always such a treat, Big Gin and Big Jimbo cooked up a feast and we just had a genuinely nice night. Decky, who is usually the easiest child ever to put down for the night, knew he hadn't seen his dad in ages so it took a loooot of cuddling to get him calm enough to go night night. Not complaining though - I've missed those family cuddle sessions so I'll take it any day of the week. After Declan was out, Paul and I went out to meet my girl Meg and her husband :) Going out and baby tending do NOT go hand in hand however as the next morning was less than pleasant. And I had A beer - I'm crazy I tell ya.

Sunday was again, absolutely gorgeous and our good friends Steve and Lindsey Jaco brought over their sweet baby girl Hannah, Meg came over after church and we all just hung out on the patio for a couple hours catching up. This is one of the reasons I just can't wait to get back East. 99% of my friends live back East and mostly all in the South so it will be unbelievably nice to every once in awhile, get together on the weekends (be it at the beach or elsewhere :) ) and just relax, catch up, hang out on the patio and talk. I miss those days.............Sunday was a gem.

Sunday we also got to go see both sets of GREAT grandparents who are all doing pretty well. Gammy and Grandy moved into a new home awhile back so this was my first time seeing it and it is beautifully perfect for them. Best part : the minute we got there Grandy says, "It's cocktail time!" like nothing has changed, and Gammy had out her nice little meat, cheese and cracker assortment. Deelish!

We had a quick Chinese takeout dinner and then Paul and I started the trek to Myrtle Beach, SC!!!!!!!!! The weather changed pretty quickly from 70 and drop dead gorgeous to cold and rainy so by the time we got to the beach it was a good sold 40 degrees and wet. Niiice. Monday morning, Paul and I slept in a little (until 8am - holler!) and then he had to go meet a recruit for a few hours so that left me to workout in the weight room and tour campus! Below are some pics!

YEA BABY

This is what working out in the humidity again looks like - sweaty and red-faced. I am the hottest. ;)



CCU's business school!

Beautiful little walkway btwn buildings!




And this is something you will not see in Boulder. Welcome to the beach!

Football stadium!



When Paul was done with his recruit we went to downtown Conway - heyyyyyyy - and had a great lunch at this super cute little restaurant right in the middle of their downtown. Pretty comparable to NYC I would say ;) The lunch was actually wonderful and it was a cute little downtown - we will certainly have to spend some more time there but I think (hope) it's got some potential! The rest of our trip was pretty packed with checking out some houses, looking at daycares, etc etc etc...............it was super quick but very needed and extra productive! It was so so so SOOO (get my drift?) nice to see where Paul has been living this past month, where he is working, who he's working with, meet his players, all that fun stuff. It has to be said that every single person I met was unbelievably friendly. And Southern.....shoowee! I will have my accent back in a hot minute! Everyone seems to love Coastal and Paul has already made an impression as so many of the other coaches and administrators just popped in to his office to say hi and it was like they'd been friends for years. Very cool. Not surprising though - he has that effect on people :)

So proud of my head coach husband. He is going to be so amazing there and we just cannot wait to be with him.