a furry face

hi all, this week's theme at i heart faces is pets! it's hard to choose just one photo with the crew we have around here, but when i saw the theme, this picture of the fabulous baxter hollywood was the first to come to mind. so here it is:

our fierce protector. chaser of birds (stray cats, and even skunks), barker at the UPS man (the neighbors and especially the neighbors dogs) lap warmer, foot licker & baby food collector (both in the mouth and on his head).  and i think he could actually make it to the gate in 3 seconds.

so keep it up fluff, thanks for keeping us "safe" and giving us a laugh. we love you!

i'll try to post the other photos i was considering in another post soon. go check out more cute pets here:

i reorganized the site i use to host most of these pictures, so if you notice photos are missing, please let me know?

more faces

I had fun entering last week's I Heart Faces contest, and since i don't have a blog dedicated to my photography at this point, I'm going to continue using this one :)

This week's theme is Teenagers- and i don't know a lot of teenagers, but here is one of my favorites! This is Meaghan last winter w/her mom & sister at my brothers engagement party.  i love her expression of amusement & omg, this is my family :) <3 you Meg!!

Happy Fathers Day

happy day to all the dads out there, but i'm going to dedicate this post to Cece's dad.

Thank you for being such an amazing dad, from the first weeks, when you had to make me english muffins because i was too nauseous to get out of bed without eating.

After I got my epidural & got to take a nap- you stayed up watching the monitors, keeping an eye on your girls.

Changing that first (of so many) diapers, getting broken on that uncomfy chair/bed in the hospital.

cuddles.

unabashed love & pride.

braving drool... & worse...

much much worse.

It's been a wonderful year of firsts. I am looking forward to many more years, and many more firsts.

clapping!

cece usually claps after i clap, which is tough when holding the phone that's taking the video. thought this was funny anyway. :)

she's cece, and she's outta here!

i heart faces.

ok, i found a link to this over on my friend Kristen's photography blog and i couldn't resist entering this picture of cece.

 my girl of a million faces. :)

oh hai blog.

sorry, i kinda forgot about you.

cece started clapping this week!

she was pretty surprised when i got really excited about her clapping. now if we clap, she'll copy. you know how babies do. it's all very cute.

we had our friend Kierans first birthday party this weekend. ONE YEAR! cece started the party in a very cute dress, but it was impeding her mobility, so she spent the rest as our 'little irish prince' haha.

anyway. happy one year big K. it's been fun!

This message has been sent using the picture and Video service from Verizon Wireless!

To learn how you can snap pictures and capture videos with your wireless phone visit www.verizonwireless.com/picture.

Note: To play video messages sent to email, Quicktime@ 6.5 or higher is required.

oh, did i mention the pool is open?

oh yes. and it's glorious. & cece loves it

baxter loves it too!

auntie melissa took some coaxing, but she thought it was ok once she was in!

puppies!

While Baxter will always be Cece's canine bff, she had  a great time visiting w/her aunt mary ann's two dogs today (and of course her great aunt & great gramma!)

10 months

cece is 10 months old. it boggles my mind that she's 10 months. double digits! lol. she's so awesome. she hasn't walked since the other day. it's funny, now that she's done it she seems much happier crawling. it's as if she's realized how much quicker it is. she's very curious & determined. if people leave the room she gets mad. she's like a sheepdog :) no words yet, but that's ok, i love the baby babble, and she seems to be making a variety of sounds. i babble back to her half the time, i should probably use real words, huh?

anyway. love her. love watching her. sometimes when she's being bonkers & won't fall asleep and i'm getting crabby and think "for the love of GOD child just give up & go to sleep" and she finally does, i am instantly not annoyed anymore and just want to snuggle her.

i also want to express how grateful i am to be a SAHM at the moment, even though it wasn't really part of our plan. i honestly don't know how people manage working & a fam- i know, you do what you have to do. and i suppose not everyone is cut out to stay home? and lord knows i could be better at it. but i'm grateful for this time with my daughter and appreciate andrew's hard work at work & around the house.