11 Months!

Only one month until Gemma's first birthday! This past Wednesday Gemma was 11 months old! I think time is going faster and faster, especially now that I'm back at work. I am very lucky that I am working three days a week (Wednesday to Friday) until at least May 2014. We've also been very lucky that Paul's mom (and sister for one week) are taking care of Gemma for the month of July here at our place. It's been a very nice way to transition back to work. Gemma will start creche (daycare) in August. She had her first hour of adaptation there yesterday, and she did great. She's there at the moment for about 3 hours today. But, back to the subject of the post! At 11 months, Gemma:

-Is on the move all of the time! She continues to crawl very fast, can pull up to stand at almost anything, and is cruising along furniture. She continues to love to climb too. She can climb up our entire flight of steps in no time, and the other day I had my back turned for a second when I had the dishwasher open, and she climbed up onto the open door.

-Discovered that she can stand up in her crib when we were visiting Paul's parents on June 17th. Since then she has chewed a chunk out of one of the top rails of her crib at home. Don't worry- we have it covered now!

-Is more confident in standing, often just leaning her tummy on whatever piece of furniture she's standing at and plays with both hands. She is also reaching a lot more in standing. This morning she got almost everything off of my bedside table!

-Is imitating our actions and doing things on command a bit more (clapping, waving for example)

-Loves to press buttons. I think I moved her away from the DVD player 100 times yesterday! She also presses the buttons on the CD player in her room and occasionally gets the cd to play.

-Had started to 'dance' to music. When she got the CD player on to one of the tracks of white noise with a bit of a beat, she was bopping up and down!

-Loves peekaboo and pat-a-cake.

-Likes to 'chase' with mommy crawling around on the floor with her.

-Has 5 teeth (her two front ones came in this month). The top left lateral incisor is very close too.

-According to our measurements, weighs 25 pounds 8 ounces and is 31.25 inches long. That's above the 95th percentile for both again!

-Has added the 'va' and 'na' sounds to her vocabulary. She imitates when we say 'mama' and 'dada', but she hasn't specifically called us by name yet.

-Has started to trial dairy, and has been eating yogurt and cheese without any problems and likes them a lot. Her favorites continue to be pasta, peas, Cheerios, bananas, and mandarins/clementines.

-Lets us know when she is upset that she doesn't get her way, but it doesn't last long and she is easily distracted. She continues to overall be a very happy, content little girl. When I get home from work she quickly crawls over to me with a big smile on her face, nearly panting in excitement. It's the best!

Photos from the past month:






































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Happy 4th of July!

A couple of days late!




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My Birthday Weekend

I had a wonderful birthday weekend, and it was extra special this year as my first birthday as a mom! On Saturday the 22nd of June, Paul and I headed to a hotel in Cavan, about an hour and a half northwest of Dublin, for the night. It was our first time away together for a night since Gemma was born. We missed our little girl, but had a nice relaxing time reading, eating yummy food, and I got a massage at the spa.

On Sunday the 23rd, my birthday, we headed home, and Paul's mom, sister, and her husband had gotten me a cake and balloons. Later that evening I went to the cinema with a friend. It was a fantastic weekend!







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Father's Day

We had an extended Father's Day celebration this year! Gemma and I gave Paul his gifts and cake on Friday evening.




On Saturday, Paul went to a Bon Jovi concert with his cousin, and we headed to Louisburgh on Sunday morning through Tuesday.



I took a ton of photos and didn't get one with all three of them looking at the camera!



On Monday we went for a walk, and Gemma admired the sheep!

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10 Months!

How is it possible that Gemma is now in double digit months as of yesterday?!? As I told Paul, it was her 'golden month birthday'! Every night after Gemma has gone to bed, Paul and I talk about how lucky we are to have such a wonderful little girl. At 10 months, Gemma:

-Is crawling on all fours all the time, and can get anywhere FAST! We have to move pretty quickly to keep her out of the cat's bowl! She also wants to play with Bubbles, but Bubbles is faster and makes a run for it!

-Is pulling up to stand on the bottom step, couch, us, etc. She also likes to climb! Shortly after getting back from MN, Gemma climbed up onto our treadmill, then from there onto a footstool, and then up onto the coffee table!

-Is a determined, independent little girl! When doing the above climbing expedition, it took her awhile and several tries, but she kept at it and wouldn't give up!

-Is very steady in sitting and can right herself if she loses her balance

-Waves, shakes head 'no', and does 'so big'

-Likes to make funny faces, especially sticking her bottom lip out and scrunching up her nose

-Is back to sleeping really well- usually from 7pm to 7am at night and two naps at least an hour each

-Is getting another tooth- Paul noticed the top right lateral incisor coming through this past Friday

-Likes to play peekaboo, hang upside down, and is quite ticklish. She also likes to explore in the living room- pulling out the DVDs, opening boxes, etc

-In the past few days she has started putting her books and toys on top of her head, then sometimes behind her head

-Is a strong, healthy girl. The last time I weighed her was May 22nd, and she was 23 pounds, 13 ounces. She is wearing 12-18 month clothes.

-Her tastes seem to be changing- she doesn't like the 'lumpy' baby foods anymore, but will still eat the purées and likes finger foods- pasta, peas, carrots, Cheerios, bananas, oranges. We tried blueberries and peaches recently, but they got spit out multiple times. She used to like little pieces of pear, but those are getting spit out now too! We'll just keep trying!

-Is so happy and content. Every morning and after every nap, she greets us with a smile. The only time she gets upset is if we take something away, but it doesn't last too long. Gemma is so much fun, and we are so blessed to be her parents!

Here are some pics from the past week:







































Had to take a break from the photo shoot to make a phone call!

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Back in Ireland

Gemma has had a fun time exploring around the house (and trying to chase the cat!) now that she's crawling. We've also had beautiful, sunny weather since we've been back, so we've been enjoying walks and spending time outside.




Bath time




I found you, Bubbles!




Spoons are fun toys!




Almost had her!




Sunny day




Peekaboo!




Exploring dad's office area


This morning I met with my manager in work, and she has approved me to take two days per week of parental leave (an unpaid leave that parents are entitled to, the equivalent of 18 weeks per child and can be used until the child is 8) when I return to work. I'll be taking Mondays and Tuesdays off, and it will last me 45 weeks. My first day back will be Wednesday, July 3rd. I have a lot of mixed emotions about it. I am so thankful that I have had so much time at home with Gemma, but I think in a way all the time off could make it harder to go back. On the other hand, I am looking forward to seeing my coworkers and having more adult interaction! I feel very blessed to be able to go back part time to start to ease the transition.

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Journey Back to Ireland

I am happy to report that the trip back to Ireland went SO MUCH better than the journey to Minnesota. We departed Minneapolis a little before 1pm on Wednesday, May 29th and flew to Chicago. Gemma slept most of that flight and woke just as we were the last people getting off of the plane. We had a six hour layover in Chicago, which got a bit long and lonely, but Gemma did great.

In Chicago we changed terminals, went through security again, both had dinner, and Gemma crawled around in an empty gate area and took another little nap. We started boarding at 7pm, and Gemma started a bottle right after we got on the plane. She finished it as we were taking off, and I got her to sleep as we were ascending. She then slept for the next 6 hours of the 6 hour and 45 minute flight! I held her the whole time, as I just wanted to keep her asleep! I didn't mind though, and I was able to snooze a little too.

Gemma woke up about 45 minutes before we landed, and we arrived in Dublin at 9am local time (3am Minnesota time) on Thursday, May 30th. I was so happy to see Paul in the arrivals area! I think he was pretty happy to see us too :-) Gemma took a little while to warm up, but within a day or so, she was back to being daddy's girl!

After we got back to our place, Gemma and I both had naps. I had to wake Gemma from her naps and in the mornings the first couple of days so that she wouldn't sleep all day and be up all night. The first night back she was awake and fussing from a little after 10pm until almost 1:30am, but it got earlier and less each night, and by our fourth night back, she was back on schedule, sleeping around 12 hours straight at night.

It was really nice that our first weekend back was a bank holiday weekend, so Paul was home Monday also. It gave me a chance to get everything unpacked, laundry done, etc. We also put away all of Gemma's 'baby baby' stuff, as she's outgrown it now!

Here are a couple of pics from the journey back to Ireland:


Eating puffs at a restaurant in the Chicago airport while mom had dinner




Chewing on the boarding pass from the first flight!

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