I think I can, I think I can...

Very early on in our blog we brought you the "Maeve is crawling" video (on or about January 1st, I believe). Well, she has moved on up to the next level...

Although she has figured out (not yet mastered) the walking thing, she is pretty selective about when she chooses to do it. We have discovered that currently, she only likes walking from one person to another, so I guess I may still have a little more time before I have to begin chasing her down everywhere we go. Be that as it may, it's pretty exciting to watch your first child do everything you had hoped and prayed she would be able to do - all on her own. And so I give you: The Walker

Mooching off Mother Nature...

About 6 hours before the 5-day deluge us New Englanders had last week, Chris jumped into action at about 9 PM (inspired by the oncoming weather and a little encouragment from me) and installed our first ever rain barrel, designed to draw water from a down spout, into a large barrel wth a spigot at the bottom to which you can attach a garden hose. I'm not sure how many gallons of water the barrel contains but I can tell you that once installed by Chris, the barrel was full within about 8 hours. That, combined with our composter, are just a couple of ways Chris has "harnessed" nature to his liking and us McNamaras are liking what we're seeing.

Spending Some "Quality Time" in the Bathroom

My poor, poor husband has found himself for the last year or so, spending more time that he ever wanted to in the bathroom. Don't let your mind get away from you here...it's not what you might be thinking. Instead, poor Chris has done more than his share of overtime renovating our one and only bathroom from top to bottom. First the demolition of thousands of pieces of tile from the floor to 2/3 up each wall and completely surrounding the inside of the shower, to a new shower head and faucet, new shower surround, new pedestal sink, new mirror and shelving, new vent system, new vanity and shower lights, etc. You name it, he's doing it. What am I doing? KEEPING MY MOUTH SHUT. He has lost countless hours of sleep most nights for the last year while laying in bed, constructing the next phase of the ongoing bathroom project in his mind. His hands are torn up, his ventilation mask is doing time and a half and he is now a professional contortionist as he repeatedly makes his way in and out of the crawl space to access our attic via Maeve's closet. You know how you hear people say things like, "I'm the luckiest person in the world," in reference to having found their one and only...their soulmate? Well, I hit the jackpot. Big time. And although on most days, I don't feel like I deserve to have him, boy am I grateful for all of his efforts at making our lives safer, happier, more comfortable, and just special. And when I thank him for all that he has done he simply says, "Bridge, I'm doing it for you and for Maeve and for our family."

Hey girls, gather round. Listen to what I’m putting down. Hey babe, I’m your handy man.
I’m not the kind to use a pencil or rule. I’m handy with love and I’m no fool. I fix broken hearts, I know that I truly can
If your broken heart should need repair, then I’m the man to see. I whisper sweet things, you tell all your friends. They’ll come runnin’ to me.
Here is the main thing I want to say: I’m busy 24 hours a day. I fix broken hearts, I know that I truly can.
Come, come, come...yeah, yeah, yeah...come, come, come...yeah, yeah, yeah...they’ll come runnin’ to me.
That’s me. I’m your handy man.







When all of this is done, Chris and I will sit down on our italian marble with our Tiffany champagne flutes and a bottle of bubbly...

Making "Great" Memories

While I headed north to attend the bridal shower of an old college pal, Maeve and her Dad made a day of it and headed southeast to the dwelling place of Nana & Gramp in East Greenwich. My impression of the visit, judging from these photos and video clips is that Maeve blew in there like a tornado, yelled a bit, banged on a few choice artifacts, stuffed herself some and blew on out! I'm hoping, however, that my suspicions are more harsh and embellished than what really took place. Chris and I hope there will be many more of those moments to come for Maeve...

Gramp learns to communicate with Maeve in her native tongue of "Maeve-ish."



Nana, miraculously, gets Maeve to sit still for most of a book reading...

Celebrating Easter Eve...

These days, with kid in tow, it is more difficult to fit both sides of the family in for visits in one day so we made the wise decision to travel to Hanson on Easter Eve and enjoy a brunch in Providence on Easter Sunday. Our footage from Sunday's visit with be posted a bit later in our blog as I chose to use a more traditional medium to capture the day - our non-digital, 35 mm camera. Our visit to Hanson, however, was captured on the digital and we had a great day. We were missing Lee and Scott who had traveled down to NJ for the weekend but we tried to make the most of it and had a really nice day. Here is a shot of Maeve with two of her Moore aunts (Auntie Katie fresh from Ft. Lauderdale) and here is a short clip of Maeve enjoying her first slice of carrot cake and as usual, Nana Moore is barely able to keep up with her feeding frenzy. The "bonus" of this footage is the story told by Nana Moore (one of the greatest story-tellers of our time) as Maeve stuffs herself. Sorry Auntie Jen...

Maeve Goes to the Zoo...

What better way to celebrate the first day of Spring than to take my one-year-old to the zoo? And what better zoo to take a one-year-old to than the Capron Park & Zoo, one of the best tips ever received by me from a dear friend of mine, Joanna Powers. It's a no-brainer people. Maeve's price of admission? Zilch. Mom's? $3.50. Come on now! The zoo is small enough that you can realistically do it in under a hour and a half and at the end of the journey is a playground with plenty of picnic tables to eat a packed lunch. We especially enjoyed the otter exhibit and we also had the opportunity to feed the llamas, although I basically had to pry Maeve's fingers open in order to get the feed to the "starving" llama. Here are some highlights from the visit!