Happy 1st Birthday!

Here is a picture of a Catie when she was 364 days old (wearing the same dress that I wore when I was little).

.....and here is a picture of a 1 year old!!

Happy 1st Birthday Catie! I can't believe how old you are. We are so very blessed to have you as a daughter. You are smart, super funny, happy, beautiful and simply perfect!

Two Big Milestones

This was a big weekend for Catie O. She got her first haircut and also celebrated her first birthday with a BBQ in the park.

For the past week my mom has been up in Northern California Catie sitting during the day. Normally Colin's parents watch Catie Monday-Wednesday while I am at work, but they are currently in Tahoe for a much needed and VERY well deserved vacation. We can't wait to join them on Wednesday! It's been great to spend time with my mom and Catie has loved seeing her Nonnie. On Thursday my dad also made the trip up to celebrate Catie's first birthday.

Every girl needs a new do for their first big party and Catie is no exception. She was born with a lot of hair and never really lost all of it. As a result, it was getting pretty long and was growing at different lengths. I figured that it was time for her first trip to the salon.

As you can see her hair is getting pretty long.

On Friday morning my parents, Catie and I went to Locks and Lollipops for her first haircut and stopped and took this picture before we went in. On the car ride over my mom was telling that during my first haircut I held cookies in both of my hands and just screamed the whole time. I came prepared with cookies (which I knew Catie would love) but I wasn't sure how she would react. Catie sat in my lap, they placed a smock on her, I handed her a cookie, the hair dresser wet Catie's hair, and she began to cut. Guess what, in typical Catie fashion she just smiled, ate her cookie and never made a peep. She was perfect and her hair do turned out wonderful. She is adorable!

On Friday night we went to Jazz on the Bay in Sausalito and had some wine and apps while we listened to the music. I really only mention this so I can add the adorable picture of Catie.

On Saturday night Colin and I headed to Healdsburg a for wedding and my parents stayed with Catie for the night. Thank you! They were a huge help getting everything prepared for Catie's birthday party, especially since we were gone the day before. The wedding was at Geyser Peak Vineyard and was beautiful. We had a wonderful time and thank you Barbara and Tom for our hotel room. What a perfect anniversary gift! On Sunday morning we woke up at 6 am and headed back home to get ready for the birthday bbq.

We celebrated Catie's first birthday at Freeman Park in Mill Valley. It was a great party (cupcake themed and pink and green of course) and Catie was fantastic. She loved every minute of it and so did we. We had sliders and hotdogs (thanks for grilling dad), salad, chips and beverages (both for kids and adults). Catie loved her cake. She looked at me first as if to say "is this ok mom" and then dug right in. She loved the frosting and loved squshing it between her fingers. She was so funny and I will post pictures of her eating her cake later today.

It was wonderful to have family and friends (new and old) help Catie celebrate her big day. It meant so much to us that people came (especially the night after 3 different weddings). I really do believe the saying "it takes a village to raise a child" is true. Each one of you mean so much to us and Catie is so lucky to have you in her life.

It is hard to believe that a year ago today, at 8:30 pm Colin and I had just finished eating dinner and watching the movie the Bucket List, when I thought that I peed my pants sneezing (if you are pregnant, were ever pregnant, or will ever be pregnant, you will understand that this isn't hard to believe towards to the end of your pregnancy). It turns out that my water broke 1 month early and Catie was ready to join us. As look back on the past year I can only say that I am so incredible blessed and I am so honored to be Catie's mom.

-PS...I will post pictures of her birthday party later tonight. They are on my camera at home.

-PPS, sorry that it has been so long since I have posted anything. We were in Hawaii for a couple of weeks and things have just been crazy. I will post all about Hawaii next week..after the birthday activities are done. I promise to start posting again!

Two Years

Two years ago today (at about the time that I am posting this) I was getting ready with my friends and family at Annandale. We were sipping champagne, getting our hair and makeup done, chatting and talking about the night ahead. What a wonderful night it was. It was perfect. Everything was exactly as I dreamed it would be. I wouldn't change one thing about the night.

I married the man of my dreams and was surrounded by everyone that I loved. I remember looking at you and thinking wow...fairy tales do come true.

Happy 2nd Anniversary Colin. We sure have accomplished a lot and there wouldn't be anyone else that I would want to take this journey with. We have had our struggles but the love and laughter has out weighed them all. Thank you for being my best friend, my confidant, my partner and the most amazing father to my daughter. Thank you for always holding my hand and supporting me.

Happy Anniversary Cols! 2NOUIS2LUVU

Father's Day Weekend

We had such a wonderful weekend. It was filled with friends, music, beautiful weather, and celebrating Father's Day.

On Friday Catie and I ran around trying to get everything ready for Hawaii. Catie is a trooper and is terrific at sleeping on the go.

Friday night we went to Jazz on the Bay in Sausalito with a bunch of our friends. The weather was amazing and it was a perfect night to sit on the law, drink some wine, catch up with friends and listen to some music. As usual Catie was the hit of the show. She is a big ham and would laugh and wave at whoever would look at her. When we finally left at 9 pm she was still laughing, smiling and babbling. She didn't want the party to end! However, the moment we put her in her car seat she was out and she slept until 8:30 on Saturday morning!

On Saturday Colin went to play golf and Catie and I went to the Meadow Club in Marin with my friends Lizzie, Susie, Marni, Katie and Zoe. Catie loves the water (I have no idea where she gets that from since I am terrified of it). She would splash herself (and me), laugh and shriek with excitement and she didn't want to get out of the pool. I can't wait for her to go to Hawaii! Thank you so much Lizzie for having us. We had a blast!

Yesterday was Colin's first Father's Day and we had a wonderful day. We started the morning having breakfast with Colin's parents. We went to Sam's which is a wonderful restaurant right on the water in Sausalito. The weather was beautiful and we ate on the deck over looking the bay and the Golden Gate Bridge. Catie sat in a high chair eating Puffs, bananas and toast and feeding the birds. She would drop food and then look down at the Pigeons under her high chair. I am sure that the birds were sad to see her leave.

After breakfast we all went to the Discovery Museum in Sausalito. I have heard great things about the museum so we decided to check it out. They have a "Tots" area where kids 3 and under can explore. Catie crawled around on the water mats and played in the stream. They have a wonderful stream that has play fish, frogs, etc. in it. Catie loved playing in the water. She splashed herself and whoever was around her. The museum was wonderful and I am sure that we will be spending A LOT of time there as she grows up.

Catie started the day with shoes on but she refused to keep them on. She HATES shoes and socks but it's ok because her feet are just so little and cute!

Thank you O'Connell's for a wonderful day.

Catie finished out the night with some mac and cheese and pears.

We had such a great weekend and Happy 1st Father's Day Colin. Catie is very lucky to have a dad like you.

We leave for Hawaii on Friday morning and I promise to post lots of pictures and share lots funny stories when we get back. Aloha!

Done

Every Sunday afternoon we have to be out of our house so that our real estate agent can hold an open house. This past Sunday Colin, Catie, and I decided to take a hike in San Rafael. It was a nice day so we started hiking along the water and then went further up into the hills. I love walking behind her because when she is in the backpack she normally leans to one side so she can see where she is going. Here is a picture of us taking off on the hike....

And her is a picture when we were done with the hike. What a great way to get a baby to take a nap!

This weekend we are going to get ready for Hawaii. We leave next Friday and we are so excited. This weekend is also Colin's 1st Father's Day. I can't wait for Catie and I to celebrate the day with him. He is an amazing dad and a wonderful husband. We are both so lucky.

Hungry?

This past weekend Catie, Auntie Susie and I went to Pasadena for the weekend. Susie and I both really wanted to spend sometime with our grandmother Nonnie (now know as Little Nonnie). When we were younger my grandparents (Nonnie and Bampa) lived in Palm Springs during the winter and we would go down and visit them a lot. I have so many wonderful memories of spending time with them. One of the funniest memories that I have is every time we drove into their complex in the desert we would take bets on how long it would take my grandmother to ask if we were hungry and wanted something to eat. Normally the person that guessed 5 minutes or less would win. I always thought that it was just Nonnie's way of taking care of us but now I realize that it must be in the grandmother rule book. As soon as we walked in the door on Thursday night my mom had Catie in the high chair and she was eating turkey, cheese, and watermelon. I laughed because my mom has officially become Catie's Nonnie.

Another great memory of the desert is us sitting at the kitchen table in the mornings having breakfast and planning our day. Everyone would be in their robes, my grandmother would ask who wanted oj or grapefruit, the milk would be a pitcher (never in the container), the table was set, and my dad would be cooking breakfast for all of us. My dad loves to cook breakfast. Growing up we had mickey mouse pancakes with Trix cereal as the eyes and smiles, waffles, eggs (the best ever), etc. My dad has always said that breakfast is the most important meal of the day and he proved it again this weekend. On Saturday morning my dad made waffles and as you can tell, Catie loved them!

We had a wonderful weekend hanging out with the family and we got some great Little Nonnie time in. My 95 year old grandmother is truly amazing. She is the most generous, caring, loving person that I know. I am so glad that Catie has been able to spend time with her Little Nonnie. I forgot my camera so when my dad sends me the pictures of this past weekend I will post them. Catie is Little Nonnie's 18th great grandchild and I am her 11th grandchild...we are both so lucky.

Jail bird

Catie has started to crawl!! She has taken a few crawls forward but mostly she goes backwards. To get somewhere quickly she will roll and man, she sure is fast. We finally had to buy a baby gate (we have been holding off as long as possible since the house is for sale) but she was just getting to fast and the stairs terrify me. We bought a baby gate last night and Colin put it up before Catie went to bed. You would think that she would have hated it but in typical Catie fashion she laughed and wanted to play with it.

Ps- the only pressure gate that was available was an extra tall one (it might even just keep Colin and I out)!!