Happy 60th Anniversary Grandma and Pappap

We were so excited to be able to celebrate my grandparent's 60th wedding anniversary with them this past weekend. It's such a milestone for any marriage to survive 60 years, but I've been blessed to have had both sets of my grandparents reach 60 years. I think that's pretty amazing these days. My grandmother told us that she didn't want a big fuss, but that's what she got and she ended up loving it! My sister, Lorie, was really proactive about planning the whole thing and we just joined in at the end to make it a fabulous event. Everyone had a great time.

My grandparents, Rosemary and Clarence Bridge with their children. From left to right, their middle child Ray, his wife Sylvia, the oldest Nance, her boyfriend Joe, my Grandmother, my Grandfather, the baby(my Dad) Paul and my mom Patti.
All the grandkids and their spouses. My sister did a much better job than me of taking group pictures, but she copyrighted them and I can't include them!
My cousin's fiancee made a beautiful quilt for them that they really enjoyed. We also put together a bunch of my grandmother's recipes in a cute little tin for a favor.
The Allen family getting to enjoy a really great dinner. Where is Tristan??
My cousin, Brian, and his fiancee, Amanda. They're actually having their rehearsal dinner at this place, so they were excited to try it out in advance.

My sister, Katie and her boyfriend, Scott. Aren't they adorable??
My sister, Emily, and her boyfriend, Brad. I'm so impressed that these boys travelled all the way up for the party. They were able to meet the whole family and everyone really loved getting to meet them.
Pappap and Tristan just hanging out. Yes, I have Tristan in yet another adorable, not very comfortable outfit! He looked so handsome!
While we were eating dinner, Tristan was in an exceptionally pleasant mood and he was smiling at everyone. I took the opportunity to get the first pictures of his sweet smiles. He's been smiling since about four weeks, but he's much more social now. Sorry they're so blurry, I was having to talk to him to make him smile.
Beautiful Bright Eyes!

Such a pleasant little man. Tristan has a sweet personality. He's a charmer and really laid back most of the time.
Mommy and her sweet boy. I really loved getting to introduce him to my whole family.
Grammy and Tristan. Thank goodness my parents were there that night or I'm not sure if I would have gotten to eat!
My grandmother was just overwhelmed by it all. She couldn't say enough about the decorations, the food and the company. They were so excited that every one of their children and grandchildren were able to attend. I think their favorite moment was getting to walk into Mass with all of us. She was so proud of her family.

My grandmother opened a special plate that was cast out of bronze just for them. They'll treasure it. My grandparents will talk about this dinner party for the next few years! It was truly a highlight for them.

My brother Jeff flew in from Florida and surprised everyone. He thought Tristan was huge since the last time he saw him. These guys will be good buddies one day.
The Bridge Men: Paul Clarence, Clarence Paul, and Raymond
Daddy and Maura enjoyed the party with Maura running up and down the hall for most of the evening! Thankfully, she was totally consumed with that and the hallway was separated from the room. She was practically invisible for the whole night and Brent was so great to keep an eye on her so that I could spend time with family. We truly enjoyed this very special celebration.

Celebrate Freedom!

Happy Fourth of July everyone!! We were excited to celebrate our country's independence and the sacrifices made by men and women who protect and uphold our freedom and way of life. I always enjoy Independence Day because it's usually pretty low key, and this year was no exception. We went over to my parent's house early in the day for a lunch cookout with Grammy, Pappap and Aunt Lorie. Maura was so excited to go. First thing in the morning, when I asked her what she wanted to do for the day, she said "I do so want to go to Grammy and Pappap's house." "I do so want" is her new favorite phrase.

Grammy and Pappap got some good cuddles in.

Maura got to hold her baby brother. It's funny, I always have a vision in my head of how these pictures should look and they never come out looking like they should. Somehow, I always expect to see two pleasant children smiling for the camera. Silly me!

Maura does love her baby brother, though, and it's priceless to get pictures like this.

My two patriotic men.

In the afternoon, we went to a cookout(or cook-in really) at our friends Angie and Chris's house. We really enjoyed it. We don't hang out with our friends often enough and we always have so much fun when we do.

We ate and then went to the park to watch the fireworks. Unfortunately, it started to downpour pretty much as soon as we got there, so we were reduced to watching from the backs of our cars. Maura's friend, Sarah, joined her in the car and they had lots of fun.

These girls have been friends since Maura was four months old. They're just now really starting to enjoy playing together and I hope they always remain good friends.

Momma and her two chicks. We enjoyed the fireworks, even if we were just watching from our car.

The firework pictures are courtesy of Brent. He got a little carried away and took fifty pictures of the fireworks!

Maura LOVED the fireworks. We were afraid that she'd be scared of them, but we talked about them making a boom all afternoon, so I think she was prepared for them. She got so excited when they started and climbed up in Brent's lap and didn't move for the remainder of the show.
When it was over, she said, "I want to see it again!" We had to spend the trip home pointing our all the random fireworks that people were shooting off.

Tristan didn't love the fireworks and I spent the whole show feeding him. He was fine as long as he was eating!

These are too cute that I just had to share them. This morning, Maura and I were playing in her room and I got out all the stuffed animals that I have stored in various places around the room. We dumped them all in her crib and she had a ball playing with them.

She made me think of ET! We played zoo and Old McDonald and just had a lot of fun. I was a little horrified to realize just how many stuffed animals she owns. I might need to thin the herd!
We were able to come up with ALL the animals that you might find on a farm!

Family Time in Pennsylvania

This past weekend was truly eventful for our family. We travelled to Pennsylvania from June 27th till July 1 to help celebrate my grandparent's 60th wedding anniversary. When we first started planning the event, I wasn't sure if we were going to be able to go. We initially thought that we'd already be in Georgia for the mobilization and I wasn't going to drive 16 straight hours with a newborn to get there. Even the thought of driving 6-8 hours was a bit daunting. We eventually decided to drive up with my parents and spend a few extra days. I'm so glad now that we did make the trip. Even though the driving is a drag, I wouldn't have missed this event for the world. My grandparents are both in their eighties and I don't know how many more events like these that we'll have. It made my grandmother so happy to have the whole family together. All of their children and grandchildren were able to attend, which is a true feat of organization! Even my brother flew in from Florida to attend. We loved getting to hang out as a family and catch up.

I especially loved getting to introduce Tristan to my grandparents. My grandmother is particularly partial to boys, so it was such a joy to introduce her first male great-grandchild. She was so taken with him and he was such a good boy to enjoy all the attention.

Grandma played with Tristan throughout the whole weekend. I'm so glad that I have so many wonderful pictures of them with the kids to remember them by. Every time we get up for a visit I worry that it's our last time to see them. We don't get to Pennsylvania very often(our last visit was last July) so every time I see my grandparents, they've gotten a little older. I just try to really enjoy our visits and conversations and make as many memories as I can.

Maura loved playing with Pappap. She found a rubber snake on their patio that they use to scare away birds and it became her favorite plaything for the whole weekend. She loved putting it down the hole in the table and Pappap teased her by grabbing the end of it. She couldn't figure out why she couldn't pull it out! It was so funny.

Uncle Micah enjoying Tristan time.

Sweet Maura was the talk of the town. She kept us all so entertained. I'm not sure what we all talked about before she was born!

We took a walk up to my grandparent's church to scout out some spots for photographs. They had a nice little flower garden with a statue of Mary and a kneeling bench. Maura chose to use the kneeling bench for pull-ups and climbing upon. I quickly explained to her that it was a place for prayer and she decided she could do that too.

She loved the hydrangeas.

Tristan was such a good boy on our little vacation. He made the drive up pretty well, sleeping all but the last 45 minutes or so, which he screamed during. The trip home was a bit tougher, but altogether it wasn't so bad. He charmed everyone at my grandparents house. He even offered smiles to my parents and grandparents.

Maura enjoying the traditional activity of my grandparent's house--TV watching. When we were kids and came up for extended visits we'd always park ourselves in front of the TV and watch for hours. My grandparents always had cable and we never did at our house, so we became true couch potatoes. I tried to limit Maura's TV time, but she definitely got to watch more there than she does at home.

Pappap holding sweet Tristan. Pappap isn't much of a baby holder, but he consented to pose with the little guy. He was so funny--every single time Tristan cried this weekend, he suggested that perhaps he had gas. I hope he isn't correct, though my mommy instincts tell me that it was just fatigue and a change in schedule.

My dad really enjoyed playing with Tristan. He said that every time he has seen Tristan prior to this, he'd had his eyes closed! Tristan was finally awake and interactive enough to play with. I loved having my parents there with us. I let them take Tristan and Maura often so I could enjoy visiting as much as possible.

My Great Aunt Barb loved bouncing Tristan. Does that make her my kid's great-great Aunt? She's always enjoyed visiting when we come up. Maura and I actually got stranded on her porch during this visit. We went out for a walk and it started raining. We quickly took refuge at her house, which is only about a block from my grandparents. Maura and I got to enjoy a really good visit with her and my Uncle Art.

Daddy and Maura spent lots of time playing cars on the floor. Who knew that my girl liked Hotwheels so much?!?

Katie, Me and Emily enjoying a very cramped ride in the back of Scott's convertible. I don't think this picture adequately shows how very squished we were!

Aunt Katie and Tristan

It was great to visit with Jeff. We only see him every few months and we didn't really expect him to be able to make it. He is currently awaiting flight training, so he was able to get away for a few days. He surprised my grandparents with his arrival, so they were especially glad to see them.

We spent much of our visit hanging out on the patio. My cousin Bryan, Joe(my Aunt Nancy's boyfriend), Aunt Nancy and Grandma.

Pappap, my Dad and Amanda(Bryan's fiancee). We really got a chance to visit with Amanda and we're excited to welcome her to the family in October.

Grandma, Grammy and Maura playing with her snakes.

My grandparents enjoying their sweet grandkids. I have a similar picture that was taken when I was about the same age. I love this picture.

We treasured the time with my grandparents and were so happy to have made their anniversary so special. It was a wonderful weekend.

Eight weeks old!!

I know I say this every week, but I can't believe my baby is eight weeks old! We are coming closer to not being a newborn anymore. I can't believe the changes this week. Tristan is much more aware, can see a lot farther, and is really getting interactive. After every feeding, I prop him up on my lap for a little chat. He makes great eye contact and starts smiling at me. He coos and gurgles at me, carrying on the sweetest conversation you'll ever hear. Tonight, he even gave us a giggle. At first, I thought it was another little sound, but then I did something even funnier and he did it again. So, I guess his first laugh was officially at exactly eight weeks. We're loving his personality. He's a laid back little guy for the most part. When he's awake, he's usually extremely pleasant. When he gets tired, he fusses a little, letting us know he's ready for a nap. I wrap him up in a tight swaddle and we bounce for a minute or two, and then he falls asleep. We hope to eliminate both the swaddle and the bouncing at some point in the future, but for now we're just going with what works. He's still sleeping in the bouncy seat too, but we're going to work on lying down to sleep this week. Wish me luck--I might get a lot less sleep myself this week because of it.

He's officially a thumb sucker. He tries as hard as he can to escape from the swaddle so that he can get his hand to his mouth. Often, I'll know that he's escaped by the telltale sucking sounds emanating from the bundle beside me.

"Who me?"

What a big boy!! I tried him in the Bumbo seat tonight to see if he could manage it yet. He's so strong and holds his head up really well, but tires easily. He was happy to sit there for about five minutes before he let us know that he was DONE!

Handsome little mister! I moved him up to 3-6 month clothes starting tonight. He is bursting out of most of his 0-3 month outfits. This weekend while we were in Pennsylvania, I found myself really wishing that I'd gotten the 3-6 month clothes out before we'd left. I was having a hard time cramming him into the too tight clothes. Now he has room to spare! We can't wait to see all his new duds on him! Stay tuned for lots of pictures from our trip to Pennsylvania.