Welcome!

Thank you all for sharing in the lives of our three amazing children- Mairead, Jack, and Ben. We hope you visit often!


Saturday, December 13, 2008

Monaghan Family Tree Decorating

One Monaghan holiday tradition is that we all get together to decorate the Christmas tree at my parents' house. Last Sunday, we were in Lowell to celebrate this tradition with Mairead's Nana and Grampy, her aunts and uncles, and a few friends. Thanks to everyone for making the time to keep this tradition going!

Mairead was really good about the whole thing. She did not try to take ornaments off the tree and watched intently as we decorated it.


She did really like this beaded garland, but not for the tree! She was so cute- I don't know where she learned to try on necklaces, but it seemed to come very naturally to her!




She was not, however, a big fan of this Santa. He moves, and she was a little thrown off by that.



I think her favorite part was the lights on the tree. She just sat and looked at them in her cute little Christmas PJs (thanks, Jean!).
We will be decorating our own tree this weekend, so I will have more holiday pictures to share!



Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Birthday Party at Gymboree

This past weekend, Mairead was invited to her friend, Ailish's, first birthday party at Gymboree. We had never been to Gymboree before, so this was a new and fun experience for all of us!

There were a ton of things for the kids to do there- mostly climbing on things, sliding, playing with different toys, and singing and dancing. I'm sure you can guess that the singing and dancing was Mairead's favorite part. Although, there are times when the Gymboree teacher wants all the kids to sit in a circle with their moms and dads, and then follow directions to complete a new activity. Our kid is not so much for the following directions part. She was having a great time, but was more interested in exploring the place and in intently watching what everyone was doing.


She was not so sure about the tunnels. She did go in one eventually, but only to chase the ball she had lost. She spent a lot of the day trying to get the balloons that her mom and dad kept hiding from her. 10,000 things to do, and all she wants are the balloons she can't have... of course!



She was a little confused by 'parachute time' at first, but she did like it when they waved it around and she got to climb under it.



Mairead and Ailish both kept looking at their dads like, what are we doing here? But they were having fun!
Mairead was a little cranky that day, and we attributed it to her not taking a nap before we went. She had not been sleeping all that well a few nights before, either, but she was still in a good mood, just a little off. Anyway, imagine my surprise when on Monday, she was laughing and I saw in her mouth 4 new teeth! She had gotten her molars sometime in the past 4-5 days, and she barely complained at all (sorry, Megan!). I felt bad because we were just telling people she was cranky and overtired, but she was cutting four new teeth! She is such a good kid-- I have a feeling that we are in trouble with these boys- can we get so lucky again and have two more happy babies? We certainly hope so!