15 months old

Gillian is 15 months today! She had her appointment today and passed with flying colors. She is now 20lbs 2 oz - 10th percentile (she has put on 2lbs and 11 oz and gone up 6 percentages); 29 1/4 inches - 20th percentile (she has grown and inch and gone up 29 percentiles!); 18 1/8 head circumference - 55th percentile (She has gained almost an inch in her head and stayed the same percentile). As we keep saying, she is tiny but mighty. Her doctor didn't seem bothered by her size and in fact seemed pleased by her growth since last time!
Gillian is a little ham. She is very silly and knows how to make us laugh. She is also infuriating in that she is into EVERYTHING and knows how to push our buttons - already at 15 months! She is an octopus...once you get her hands off of one thing, she has already grabbed something else. She also gets that look in her eye when you tell her not to do something, "oh, I am NOT supposed to do this, then it must be fun and I will not listen to you!" and continues to do it. Oh is she going to be a handful, she is already demonstrating this in her limited abilities so far. But she makes life more exciting and we wouldn't have it any other way. She truly is a joy and makes our hearts smile everyday!

I love having a girl just because of the clothes! It is so fun to dress her up in these cute little outfits even though I know she is going to go down and drive trucks with Alistair or hop in the sandbox. Putting Alistair in preppy shorts and polo shirts is fun too, but there is something about getting all frilly with your little girl! I am just waiting for her hair to grow out enough to put it into barrettes, etc!

Gillian is very smiley and happy - plain and simple! She talks up a storm and manages to get what she wants through communicating one way or another.

It will be fun to see how she continues to develop!

Fourth of July

Fourth of July was spent down on Fox Island this year. We had a blast! David, Judy & the dogs, Jen, Ethan, Katelin, Jeff, Michelle, Natalie, Cooper, Ann & Bob all came too. We spent the day hanging out, playing Bocce, playing with the dogs or just chatting. And of course we had some food - some REALLY good food!
Katelin and Grandpa spending some quality time reading on the deck
Gillian heading out to play some croquet...as soon as she decides what color she wants to be!

The first game of bocce - siblings vs. siblings. The Hennessey siblings won - by one.

The second game 60's vs. 30's - the 30's won!

Cooper all set in his 4th of July bandana and shirt. Such a cute kid!

Natalie and Alistair spent quite a bit of time riding scooters in the driveway. They were both EXHAUSTED by the end of the night!

Alistair was dong a great job and eventually got the hang of cruising and not pushing off every time!

My mom - that's all I can say! (:

Sparkler time!

Alistair was unsure of them at first, but then had fun with them.

Fire Marshal Bill

Seth's cool new poster - free with purchase!

Jen and Ethan enjoying the red, white and blue lights

Pyromania!

Alistair and Natalie, front row view

Gillian didn't make it to the big Steilacoom show - she was out fairly quick after getting her pj's on! Next year maybe!

Cape Cod Vacation

On the 19th of June, we headed to Cape Cod for a week with Seth's parents and Ethan, Jen & Katelin. We rented a house in the town of Brewster, mid-cape. We were a 10 minute walk to the beach and had a wonderful view on the water from the house we stayed in. We had great weather all week which afforded us much time playing on the beach and enjoying the sunshine. We saw lots of family and family friends and just had a really fun and relaxing time! Seth's Grandma and Uncle Paul met us at the airport Saturday night and brought us back to Paul's house to stay. It was nice to see everyone and to have a nice place to be after being on an airplane all day. Aunt Marie had left a plate of calzones for us which we annihilated while waiting for our pizzas. We spent the night there and then headed for the cape the following morning. The house we rented was very nice with lots of space for 6 adults and 3 kids. Even when we added more people for get togethers, there was plenty of room.

Once we got everything all squared away we wasted no time in getting on our bathing suits, grabbing our sand toys and towels and heading for the beach.

Alistair absolutely loved being on the beach. He was totally into building sand castles, he loved playing and swimming in the shallow water and, when the tide was in, enjoyed having someone take him into the deeper water. He was pretty much open for anything!

The kids playing in the sand...soon to be the big kids (Seth and Ethan) while the little ones went to play in the water with Grandma and Grandpa.

Our beach baby - she was into in the first couple of days, but then it declined into whining and picking her feet up. She DID NOT like having any part of her touching the sand. She didn't even like sitting on the towel, she had to be on a lap - usually mine would only do! She didn't mind the water or the hard sand, it was the rest of it she didn't care for!

On Tuesday Uncle Paul, Aunt Marie, Cousin Dave and Grandma Hennessey came out to spend the day with us at the house and on the beach. Alistair made good friends with both Uncle Paul and Cousin Dave.

Alistair and Uncle Paul heading out to check out the water

Aunt Marie keeping Gillian "safe" from the awful, awful sand!

Cousin Dave helping Alistair surf on the alligator. They both seemed to have a great time!

I found a trampoline in the laundry room and that became a fun thing to play on for the week!

One Wednesday we went into Provincetown at the tip of the cape. We spent a few hours walking around the streets and some people popped into shops.

Alistair posing on the stairs while we wait for people wandering through a used book store.

After we were finished with P-Town, as the locals call it, Grandma and Grandpa loaded the grandkids into one car and took them home with them. Jen and Ethan had one car and we had the other and each headed out to explore and sight see sans kids. We later joined up for dinner and then headed out to the beach for some beers and an evening swim. The grandparents were fairly exhausted when we got home, but all 3 kids were in bed and everyone seemed to have a fun time!

Thursday we went rented bicycles (Gillian stayed with Grandma & Grandpa) and rode about 19 miles on the Cape Cod Rail Trail (very similar to the Burke Gillman). It was a fun time, we stopped at Pleasant Lake for lunch on the way back. The last couple of miles were torture as the humidity and tired muscles started to take their toll. Alistair and Katelin did well in the trailer together and even got a nap on the way out!

Seth graciously volunteered to pull them and decided to pull them the whole time instead of switching up.

Ka-Chow! Mr. Lightening McQueen!

Miss Curly Q. Gillian's hair got curlier and curlier as the week went on. One of the only things humidity is good for! (:

Our last day on the beach - more sand castles and playing on the surf.

Atlantis

Alistair took our picture

Gillian in happy spirits after having her dinner. Life is good!

Gillian with Grandpa, Cousin Glenn Michael and Maddy the Golden Doodle.

Friday before we left we had Judy's brother Glenn, his wife Bev and cousins Kevin and Glenn Michael and his girlfriend Heather over for a HUGE clambake. It was a great time and delicious food!

Mmmmm...lobstahs and clamcakes...

...and steamahs and stuffies and corn, potatoes and sausage! Yum!

Good food and good times

The sun setting on our Cape Cod vacation. It was a great time and definitely on the list of must returns!