Happy 1st Birthday Souza Sisters

Today was the birthday of my friend Debbie's twins Charlotte and Maggie! They are celebrating their birthday with Mickey Mouse in Disney World. I sooo wish that we could be there to celebrate with them. These two beautiful little girls are walking miracles just like Sarah. I hope that they are having a very Happy Birthday!

Patrick and Ber's Wedding

These are a select few of the picture that the photographer took. I wasn't able to take as many picture as I would have liked due to the fact that I had Sarah. It's really hard to carry Sarah and use my camera at the same time. Besides these are far better pictures than I can take.

Just to let those of you that were not there know, how proud of our baby girl that we were, she walked down the aisle. And she only fell once but thanks to Marie who quickly swooped her up, she continued on with ease. I wasn't able to watch the whole thing because I was walking on the outer aisle just in case she decided she wasn't up for it. (Here is where I beg that if anyone has any video or pictures of her walking up I would love to have a copy. PLEASE!!!!) The best part of the whole thing is that the last little bit of her walk turned into a cute run when she saw Michael at the end of the aisle. Michael then brought her around to me and there are no words to express the look of pride and love that Michael had on his face, it brought tears to my eyes.

I just want to say to Patrick and Ber:

Thank you so much for including me in your special day. It was the first wedding I had been to in years that I truly was able to have fun. The last few years for Michael and I have been really hard. The year, September 2007 to September 2008, has been one on the best years of my life. It started with the birth of my beautiful baby girl and ended with your wedding and Sarah's 1st birthday! Ber, you were one of the most stunning brides I have ever seen! (Patrick you weren't too bad looking either.) Patrick, you were such a little brat when I first met you 8 years ago and you have grown into a responsible man. I am so proud of you! Continue to make each others dreams come true and fill each day that you spend together with more love than the day before. Marriage is not always easy so continue to fight for each other. I hope that you are having fun on your honeymoon!

Love you both,

Beth

Here is my favorite picture from the whole day! This is the best family photo I have to date and I already have a copy displayed in my living room!

Photo by Anthony O'Donoghue (using my wonderful Cannon Rebel Digital Camera)

Visiting "More" Nan

Four Generations:



Nan and her grandsons:

Nan, grandson and great-granddaughter:

Father and daughter:


We visited Michael's "More" Nan our first free day. He called her "more" nan growing up because she was another (more) nan. Unfortunately she was not truly able to grasp that Sarah was her great-granddaughter and that Michael was her grandson. She is still in great humor which made the visit very enjoyable. I think that it was important for John to introduce Sarah to his mother and just as important to Michael.

Sarah's Irish Birthday Party

Day two was Sarah's Birthday party! Patrick and Ber had everything under control and I felt like there was nothing I could do but enjoy the day. It was weird not doing anything for my daughters birthday but it was nice to be able to watch everything and watch Sarah react to everything going on. Patrick and Ber rented a bouncing castle for the big day and we had a Mickey Mouse theme. As you can see from the pictures above that the adults had just as much fun on the bouncing castle if not more. You may also want to take another look at the pictures and count how many grown men have Mickey Mouse ears on their heads and how many kids did.

There was one point when everyone was singing "Happy Birthday" that I started to tear up. It was very overwhelming to think that a whole year had past. This little girl that was in my arms needing me for everything a year ago is now becoming more and more independent everyday. I just can't believe it. I think by the time that it all sinks in it will be her 2nd birthday.

I added some picture below that the slide show wouldn't let me add. Enjoy there is more to come.

Our first day in Ireland!

Uncle Anthony and Sarah on the trampoline:

Laura and Sarah:

(Very proud) Grandad and Sarah:

So we ended up arriving in Ireland 24 hours later than we had planned. Thank you to the very crappy US A*$%#ys, they delayed our flight leaving Pittsburgh to Boston by two hours. And after I asked and asked the "I D 10 T" at the gate if we were going to make our international flight and he assured us that we would...so, we finally got to Boston and US crappyways, let us run to the international terminal only to be turned away and told to go back to US horribleways to have them fix the problem. Anyone that has traveled with an infant, in 85 degree weather knows that this is not something that you say to a woman holding her exhausted daughter. Oh and did I mention that they had NO air conditioning on the flight from Pittsburgh to Boston. I think that there is something illegal about that but we'll find out when the better business bureau gets my letter. Anyway, we spent the night at Hilton Boston Airport and took off the following day.

When we got there Sarah was extremely tired considering that she only slept about an 1 1/2 hours of our 6 hour flight. But that's okay because when we got to Patrick's house we visited over breakfast and then took a 4 hours nap. When we got up we headed to Breeda's for dinner. The above pictures were taken at her house. Laura is Breeda's daughter (Michael's first cousin).

Michael and I are still in shock how much Laura has grown and it is hard to believe the little girl that I met 8 years ago is now holding (and babysitting) my daughter. Here is the little girl that I first met, this taken at Disney in 2001. She has grown up so much! I can't believe it!

So that was the first 48 hours and I will have more pictures once I get more time to got through all of them.

Happy 1st Birthday Sarah!!!!!

It is my baby's 1st birthday!!! Sarah was sick today and trying to catch up on all the sleep that she missed traveling home from Ireland, so it wasn't a very eventful day. It was the perfect day for me though because all she wanted was for me to hold her and cuddle her all day so that is what I did. It is so hard to believe that she is one. A whole year has past and she has changed so much in that year. She is our everything! Our dreams come true! She amazes us everyday with all that she is and all that she is becoming. It is hard to imagine who she will be next year at this time but I am looking forward to watching her grow. I will say that I have been blessed beyond words to have been able to be a stay at home mom. I know that in today's world it is becoming harder and harder for moms to be home full time and I do not take this for granted. This is the hardest thing that I have ever done, but it is the best and most rewarding thing I have ever done. I am thankful to have a husband that stuck by my through all of the hard times and works so hard everyday to let me live my dream of being a stay at home mom. I can't believe that this little 7 lb baby that I gave birth to a year ago is now walking, talking (well, as much as little one this age does), laughing, calling out "mama" and "dada", pointing to things that she wants (throwing a temper tantrum when she doesn't get it), dances, has like and dislikes. She is a little person now! I am in awe.

Sarah,

We love you so much and we are so happy you where sent to us by our other angels! Happy Birthday baby!

We love you with all of our hearts,
Moma & Daddy



PS...There is so much that I need to fill you all in on but I have little time to it so I will fill you in on more over the next several days.

HiHo, HiHo, It's off to Ireland we go.....

So we are off to Ireland for the much anticipated wedding of Patrick O'Donoghue to Bernadette Murphy! Michael and I are soo excited but extremely nervous. This is our first "big" trip with Sarah and we have no clue how it is all going to go. This could go one of two ways:

1) Sarah sits on our laps, plays nicely, waves to all the people around us, goes through her normal "adorable" performance and then falls asleep....

or

2) Sarah sits on our laps, plays nicely, waves to all the people around us, goes through her normal "adorable" performance, falls asleep for an hour, then realizes that its going to be a while before she gets off this airplane. Then starts to scream and yell until we let her down, she goes up and down the isle disturbing everyone from their sleep, throws a huge temper tantrum when we go to pick her up and then the pilot will threaten to ban us from all air travel till she is 18 and responsible for herself.