St. Patrick's Day '09

Last Sunday we headed to Chicago's south side for the annual South Side Irish Parade. It was a beautiful day out and the parade was a lot better than we were expecting. We were expecting a parade full of commercial floats but instead this parade was very family oriented with Irish dancing troops, marching bands, bagpipes, and I think every private school within a 50 mile radius. This is a VERY popular parade Jim, Abby, and I were there with 300,000 of our closest friends.


As you can see...

...Abby was VERY into the parade!


On St. Patrick's day we had a dinner party at our house. We served corn beef, cabbage, champ, home made soda bread, Guinness brownies, and all the Guinness and Jamison you can drink. It was a smaller gathering then we were expecting but but very nice.

March 17th = 17 Guiness...

Swing Time

Here is a new video of our little girl doing one of her favorite things...swinging and talking.

Hiccups

Abby always has hiccups...they are really cute so...I thought I would share...

Bath Time With Abby

Abby's first bath in the hospital was one that we will never forget...she was frantic...

The good news is that she has gotten better with the whole bath thing and here is a video and a few pictures to prove it...

First bath at home...sorry, I was unable to rotate the picture but it is still cute...

2/5/09

2/25/09...there were a few baths in between

What a sweet little girl!

Since I have not been working and been at home during the day I have had a chance to learn what Chewy and Billy do all day long...

...and I really do mean ALL DAY LONG! They are cute...lazy but...cute!

Abby's First Movie...

Last Tuesday Abby saw her first movie...

One of the local movie theaters here offers mom and baby friendly movies...it is great! The first showing of any movie on Tuesday is considered mom friendly...they leave the lights up a bit and the sound is down a little. I think this is a fabulous idea! What a great way to get a few extra people into the theaters on Tuesdays.

We saw Confessions of a Shopaholic. This was a light and entertaining movie and now...I am going to have to read the books.

I look forward to many more movies with Abby!!

Reinforcements

Before Abby was born Jim and I decided that we wanted to have a week alone with Abby. We wanted some time to get used to our new family. But...of course my parents were chomping at the bit to get here. If my mom would of had it her way she would have been here for her birth. Thank you for your understanding mom! On Thursday the reinforcements did finally roll into town. As you could imagine once my parents saw Abby they were completely in love... it is their first grandchild. And, as my mom kept on saying...my baby just had a baby.

On Saturday, my cousin Allison, her husband Scott, their kids Elizabeth and Freddie, my Aunt Mary and Uncle Fred all joined the baby viewing party. They all made the drive from Minnesota to meet Abby and it was GREAT to see them! Everyone got a chance to hold the new member of the family. Here are just some of the pictures...

Saturday night we had an "interesting" dinner out at Patrick's Pub in Aurora with cousin Joanne, Jim, and Jim's daughter Lauren. Patrick's is advertised as being an Irish pub but...they were out of Guinness and didn't serve Harp?!? Jim and I have decided that besides Walter Payton's Roundhouse we are going to avoid Aurora restaurants when ever possible! Just ask Allison if you want more info on why Patrick's was our final straw.

On Sunday we were all supposed to meet for breakfast before the Suhler/Hart clan drove back to Minnesota but unfortunately we had to take a rain check on this. It is sad that we were not able to visit more but we will see them all again real soon!

The rest of the week my parents and I did some errands around town, spent a lot of quality time with Abby, and visited our 92 year old aunt Kay.

Here is a picture of Aunt Kay from Christmas. Unfortunately, Kay was feeling under the weather on this visit so she didn't want to hold Abby but we will be back to visit her soon!

It was sad to see my parents go and I know it was sad for them as well. My dad said that there will a bit of a whole in his heart now that he has met Abby and will not be able to see her as much as he would like. Mom and Dad you are welcome to visit when ever you would like!!

Jim's BEST day EVER!

Sunday might have been Jim's best day ever!!

First, we were able to come home from the hospital. I had left it up to Jim to decide what we would all wear home and I am sure you will not be surprised when you see this pictures...

Then, when we got home...the Steelers make history! Pittsburgh Steelers became SIX-BURGH! They became the 1st NFL team to win the Super Bowl 6 times!!!

It was a great game for football fans with a score of 27-23 but...when you are a super fan of one of the teams it made whole game a nail biter! Of course...the right team won in the end in an amazing fashon!

Abby was definitely our Super bowl good luck charm!!