Check Out Little Bitty's Dance Moves!

Hogan Clan/ St Paddy's Day Parade

Last Thursday we got out everything green that we could find and headed to downtown T-town with the Hogan clan to get ready for the parade. The Hogan clan is my mom's entire side of the family, she is one of twelve children so when we are all together it is BIG time. Luckily St. Paddy's day is always during spring break for us but this year there was some of our clan missing because kids were in school. Nonetheless, the party still must go on and so we celebrated the Hogan way by eating, drinking, and being merry!

I have rode on the family float for years starting when Isabella was just a baby. Each year it is something that my kids look forward to. This year since some of the "older" girls were in school my girls got to ride in the convertible driven by my Uncle. They thought they were hot stuff. Everytime that I looked back Isabella and Margaret were waving like beauty queens. Towards the end of the parade I looked back to see Isabella still going strong while Margaret had her thumb in her mouth with the other hand waving high. Afterwards she let me know that I was probably going to need to rub her arm because it was going to hurt so bad.

Walter had a great day of eating lots of candy on the float when his momma wasn't looking and Caroline slept in my Aunt's arms the entire parade!

Having a little fun at Mimi's before the parade. Caroline loved putting this hat over her head and playing peek-a-boo.

One Proud Momma

Okay, I almost hate to do this because every time I brag about one of my children it always comes back to bite me in the a#$, meaning they always revert back to the opposite of what I am bragging about. But this little guy has worked so hard I just want him to know how proud that I am of him. He is officially a big boy who wears big boy pants!

Over Christmas break I decided we needed to at least try to get him thinking about using the potty. My girls were fairly easy to train and I was quite nervous because everyone told me how hard it was to do it with boys. He had no problems sitting on the potty for me, he just couldn't make anything happen. Isabella's Christmas break was a great time for me to work on this because we really didn't need to leave the house and trust me this is key when potty training. It took about five days and this little guy got it all figured out. It has been about three months now and I finally feel like I can talk about it because he is doing such a good job with it.

Way to go buddy, Mommy is so proud of you and very excited to have only one kiddo left in diapers:)

Ten Months!

This picture has a million meanings for me, here are just a few...

1.) Look at how big my baby girl looks in her crib!

2.) I love how she holds her blankie (aka "Bobbi) just like this each time she sleeps. I wonder if she knows when I sneak into her room in the wee hours of the night to switch it out just to wash it and then line dry it so that it is ready for her the next morning?

3.) I love how she finds this nook and cranny in the corner to snuggle her head up against.

4.) I need to take down that darn bumper, but would she miss it because she always snuggles her head up against it? Would this interrupt her wake less nights?

5.) Look at that hair, it is really starting to grow, it looks like it might be red:)

6.) We really just wear this baby girl out! As I took this picture I could have sworn that I saw her move right before I came into her room and that she is just lying there still hoping to get a few more moments rest in this crazy house!

7.) I hate to wake her up!

Okay, enough of the randomness!

Cheers to TeN aMaZiNg MoNtHs with Caroline!

Ten months has brought a few "firsts" for our little Miss. We finally have a tooth! I tried my darndest to get a good shot of it but she just wasn't having it. It finally broke through about a week and a half ago on the bottom left side. I was starting to wonder if she was going to have a toothless grin for her 1 year pics but looks like we will have at least one to shine up and make sure that it sparkles for the camera:)

This month has also landed our little toot many evenings in the sink! That is because she is just CrAzY about her finger foods!!!! Not only does she get it on her fingers but it is also on her nose, ears, hair, and just about stuck everywhere! She is pretty much eating whatever we are having for dinner, just cut up into smaller pieces. Loves any type of fruit I give her and had her first grilled cheese for lunch the other day.

She is still crawling and pulling herself up like a crazy person and making sure that her momma is on top of her cleaning duties. My biggest challenge is that the other three have not left small pieces of stuff out for her to get her hands onto. The girls are really into making beaded necklaces and bracelets right now so I feel like I am on constant bead patrol.

We are also working on only using the paci when she is in her crib, but if you see us out and about with it in no judging we are probably just having a bad day:) When I take her out of her crib she reaches up takes paci out of her mouth and throws it back in her crib. We have kind of made a game out of it and she thinks it is hysterical.

She loves to have books read to her, especially by her brother or sisters. Her favorite thing to do is turn the pages.

My favorite first of the month is "Momma".

She finally said it, I have been slaving away for ten months for this little Miss just to hear her chant "Dadda" all day. This felt so good to hear and her "Momma" is definitely a proud one:)

Ash Wednesday

My favorite conversations of the day:

Margaret as we were walking into Ash Wednesday mass

" Mom, I saw God and even he is wearing ashes today!"

Apparently Margaret was a little confused and thought Father Andrew was God.

Cute:)

Isabella as she was looking at my ashes on my forehead

" Mom, why do you have so many lines on your forehead?"

I think she might have been referring to my wrinkles!

Not so cute, Ouch!

I love their innocence and honesty:)