Happy St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patricks Day! We had a mellow one here in the McGuire household. We are adjusting to Dan having a new job (yahoo!) so he didn't get to be home to celebrate with us. Dan and I decided very early on in our marriage that Valentine's Day was definitely not our thing, so we have always treated St. Patrick's Day as our special holiday. We usually get each other a little something and go out to celebrate. However, this year was different since we didn't really even get to see each other. We are so very grateful for the job that it doesn't even matter though. So, to celebrate, I took pictures of Delaney in her special St. Patrick's Day shirt. She thought it was hilarious to run around while I tried to capture some images of her. Oh, and she had a mouthful of cracker. Sorry. But here is my little Irish lass celebrating her 3rd St. Patrick's Day!

Yeah, this is how she rocked it. She loves these red sweat pants. She had a little pair of jeans and a green hoodie on over the shirt and it was adorable, but she came home and wanted her "comfy" pants on. So, green and red it was. It was like Christmas and St. Patrick's Day all rolled up into one.

A very special thank you to cousin Harper for passing along the shirt. Delaney loves that it came from you!! We love you!

2nd birthday party

Delaney had her 2nd birthday party on here a few weeks ago and it was quite the Elmo affair. I even sat the night before and made Elmo cake pops, an idea from Bakerella. Here is Angus keeping me company while I make Elmo pops. He actually really wanted the jelly beans and M&M eyes much more than his desire to keep me company, but whatever, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt.

Delaney's big Elmo with all his little Elmo heads.
The whole army of them.

She got an Elmo tattoo too!

We decorated while she was down for her nap and she woke up to everything birthday. She ran around looking at all the decorations. It was really cute.

Finding more Elmo.

Delaney and my little sister, Maddie.

Playing with the Big Bird car that was on her cake.

Birthday cake. I don't think she took a bite. She isn't much of a sweet tooth.

She did attempt to bite the head off of Elmo though. In the end, she mostly just ate his eyes and was done.

Poor Elmo.

So, I was busy and didn't take any pictures of all the wonderful grandparents and great-grandparents and such that came over. Sorry you are not documented, but we so loved that you all made it. It made Delaney's day so very special.

The next day she had another party with more of my family for all the February birthdays. Here she is with the kitty cake.

And here she is with her new puzzle.

Thank you to everyone who helped make Delaney's 2nd birthday special. We love you all!

The random February catch up post

Well, third time is a charm. I had trouble loading the pictures one time and the other time I somehow got them in reverse order. So, I think they are finally here. I have a few posts that are behind including the birthday pictures, but here are some random February pics from our past month.
Here is Delaney in her kitty raincoat and boots just getting back from a walk with daddy. Valentines Day with my little sister and Delaney.

Delaney got to ride the quad for the first time on Valentine's Day with my dad. She hopped right on and got in this position and then would not move or adjust at all.

Those little hands stayed in this position the entire ride. She got off and back on for one more ride and then that was enough. She even told my dad, "Papa all done too".

She can open the refrigerator all by herself now. This is what ensues.

Happy Birthday 2 year old!

How has it happened? My little girl is 2 and it seems to have flown by. Two years ago, at 5:22 in the morning, our little girl was born. For the last two years, our lives have been filled with a joy we never knew. Two short years ago, a little person came into our lives and changed them forever. Delaney is growing up and it is incredible to see the changes.

To my Delaney:
I love the way you sing your alphabet and only know the first few letter and the ones at the end of a line (G, P, V...)
I love the way you read your Monkey book to me on the way to daycare.
I love the way you snuggle before bedtime.
I love they way you have no fear when you play and will climb on anything.
I love the way you softly pat my cheeks when you give me "Soft touches".
I love the way you insist upon music in the car and it is usually songs I like too.
I love the way you tattle on the cat when he is doing something wrong.
I love the way you fold your hands when it is time to pray.
I love the way you love to help me cook.
I love the way you say cheese for pictures.
I love the way you are independent and stubborn.
I love the way you are so proud when you accomplish something.
I love the way you say "Night Night Mama" and "love you Mama" when I put you to bed.
I love the way you worry about others when they get hurt or sad.
I love the way you point out every single school bus and truck when we are in the car.
I love the way you giggle and laugh over the simple things.
I love the way you talk on the pretend phone and then say nothing on the real phone.
I love the way you melt my heart with your smile and hugs.
Most of all, I love you for being you.
Happy Birthday Delaney!!

It's like it happened overnight...

I get her out of the tub one night and she actually lets me brush her hair. Well, "lets me brush" really means didn't fight me tooth and nail, but there were still some tears and a great deal of whining. But, once it was done and her hair dried, this is what transformed. I don't know how she got to be so big or her hair so long, but my little baby is growing up. I am still in denial that she turns two in a mere couple of weeks. She looks so different with her hair down and since she rarely lets me have it down, it warranted some pictures. I still didn't think it was this long already.

It's been a while...

It has been quite a while since I've posted anything and mostly because our household has been dealing with sickness and other such things, so I have been remiss. Anyhoo, here is the post. There were so many Christmas pics to choose from that I decided just not to post much at all. I will try to e-mail some pics out to the different families of the respective Christmas festivities. But, here is Delaney Christmas morning in her new kitty pajamas opening her first present. She got stickers. She shared them all with me.

We have done some outings despite the wet weather. Here she is very excited about going to the zoo. She and I went all by ourselves since Dan had come down with something. She had been cooped up in the house for a long time with her double ear infection and it was just a necessity to get her out for some fun, rain or not.

She had fun even with the wet weather.

She even got to try her first hot chocolate.

One day we also got out to Owens Beach. Here she was picking out the perfect rock.

Our little girl is getting so big. Where does the time go?

Delaney also caught a stomach bug this last month. We knew something was wrong when she fell asleep in her beanbag chair. She NEVER falls asleep in the living room. But it was cute.

And she got another boo-boo at daycare. She fell off the slide and smacked her cheek. It just looked a little scraped up at first and then it bruised pretty good after that. It wasn't the worst she's done, but it caused some soreness for a few days.

Our nice little girl is almost two and we are seeing it. Her development has taken such leaps and bounds lately and with the good, comes the bad. We are seeing the tantrums and most of the time, it is hard not to laugh. So what do we do? We take pictures. Here is one from last night. Two minutes later she was up laughing and giving us hugs again.

Happy New Year!

I would love to post a long eloquent post about the new year and resolutions and what the past year has been for us, but I am too tired from having a little one with a double ear infection who can't sleep all week. So, instead I will say that our New Year's was spent sleeping except for waking up for the sound of all the fireworks in the neighborhood. However, not to be left out, Delaney woke up and was up from 1 until 5 due to medicines, ear infection, digestion issues, etc. I will say that the last few days have probably been my most trying days as a parent so far with Delaney extremely crabby and fragile, but it has been good for teaching me lessons in patience and I have gotten a few extra hugs and kisses from her. Today, due to Dan catching her cold and the utter need for Delaney and I to get out of the house, she and I went to the zoo all by ourselves. We had a great, yet cold time. Delaney even got to try her first hot chocolate.

It is back to the routine starting tomorrow and while I am sad the holidays are over, I am ready to get back into the swing of things. Right now, I am just hoping for some sleep and wellness for all of us. Well, I hope the long eloquent post is still coming sometime, but I will make no guarantees. Christmas pictures are coming as well, but sometime when I can think clearly and not be running on caffeine along. So, we hope you all had a Happy New Year and wishing you all a wonderful 2010!

Since there are no big loads of Christmas pictures, here is a short little video of my wee one being a ham and cracking me up~