An Early Visit with Santa

On Tuesday, Mommy decided to take Mary Pat to sit on Santa's lap. Although it's early, Mommy really wanted to beat the crowds at the mall since the line usually has a 1-2 hour wait every day after Thanksgiving! After about 30 tries, this was the best picture with Santa. Of course Mary Pat decided to smile as soon as the pictures stopped, but mostly just looked confused and was in awe of all the action going on around her at the mall. At least she is looking at the camera in this shot and looks cute in one of her Christmas outfits!

Story Time with Daddy and Other News

Sorry about the lack of posts recently, but there has not been much news to report. Mary Pat is getting bigger every day and is being much more vocal. She loves making all sorts of noises especially when she wants attention! She is also becoming much more interested in the world around her. She likes to sit and be held facing out so she can be part of the action. She is also starting to really enjoy her nightly story time with Daddy as you can see from the pictures above. Here are some more pictures from the past couple of weeks, including a visit with Aunt Michelle, Uncle Tommy and cousins Jocelyn, Noelle and Keira, as well as "taco night" at Al & Rosette's house!

A Favorite Afternoon Spot

Recently, Mary Pat has started to get a little cranky in the late afternoon hours. Mommy has discovered that she enjoys "being a big girl" and sitting on the couch next to Mommy during these cranky times. As you can tell from this picture, she becomes happy as a clam once she's propped up in the boppy and can sit this way for an hour or so before she gets tired or bored!

Meeting Uncle Phil

Uncle Phil (Mommy's uncle) was in Manhattan for work this weekend so we took Mary Pat in on Saturday to meet him. She slept the entire way there on the train and the horrible walk through Times Square so she was wide awake once we got to the hotel! She loved staring at Uncle Phil (she liked his glasses) and sitting on his lap while she took in all the sights of the Marriott Marquis lobby. Mommy, Daddy and Mary Pat were happy that we got to meet up with him and are already counting the days until we get to see all of Mommy's family in Spartanburg at Christmas!

Gymboree Class

For the past few weeks, Mommy and Mary Pat have been going to a "Play and Learn" class each Wednesday at Gymboree Play and Music. At first Mary Pat was not really happy to be there (as witnessed by Aunt Shay Baby) but she has gotten used to it now and seems to enjoy it more each week. Not only does it help get Mommy and Mary Pat out of the house once a week, but it exposes Mary Pat to different songs, motions, toys, and other kids. Her favorite part is definitely being around other babies!

Once Mary Pat is a little older she will be able to take music and art classes in addition to the play and learn class. We definitely recommend these Gymboree classes to other moms and babies if you have one of these centers nearby. Here are a few pictures from class last week (it was Halloween week so all of the kids were in their costumes at the beginning of class).

Uncle Knox's Visit

This week Mary Pat finally got to meet her Uncle Knox. She had a great time snuggling with him and can't wait until her head is more stable so she can learn some more dance moves!

After two wonderful days with us, Knox is now off to Boston and New Haven to look at some grad schools but we will get to see him on Saturday night before he heads back down south. Here is a link to more pictures from his visit and the past week.

Trick or Treat

Mary Pat had a great time going trick or treating on Friday night. Our little pea pod looked adorable and stayed nice and warm in her costume.


We had a great night of Halloween fun at Al and Rosette's house where Daddy gave Mary Pat one of her first bottles! She seemed to do well with the bottle so hopefully we will be able to give her one more often. Here is a link to many more Halloween themed pictures from the week.