Baby Foley-Murphy: October 2007

halloween awesomeness.

last weekend we went to a reunion of the "baby class" we went to this spring, hosted by one of the other couples (now a family of three!) from the class, attended by almost all the couples and their new babies. it was the first time we'd seen each other since our last class at the end of june, so it was our first intro to each other's children, too. it was great - and really great to see everyone relaxed a little into their new roles - when we were in class together, everyone had this kind of always nervous, oh my gosh i'm really a parent?! look in their eyes. now that look was still there (and i know we've got it too!) just tempered by a lot of "no matter how hard or crazy it is, this child is amazing and i love this new role." if that can be a look in someone's eye.

speaking of looks in eyes: grace is the second from the left, all jack o lantern'd up courtesy of grandma murphy. we walked to the party with grace in costume. we got stopped a LOT for people to oogle and ogle. the picture really captures the hilarity and cuteness of the costume - not to mention ALL the costumes! be warned, you may find yourself oogling and ogling.

blogging, not photogging

since this is a blog (aka web log) and not a flickr foto album, i figured it's time to get down a thought or two on top of all these photos.

just hit the 6 year mark, cancer free. simply cannot believe it's true. had a lovely dinner with aunt cece and uncle bill after the dr.s appt - this family helped in the healing during very rough days those years ago, in ways that words will never capture, and it was both wonderful to see them (thanks for dinner!) and unnerving to do the old routine (dr visit / their house) with the new cast of characters (or new star of the show, more like). life has not only gone on, it has gotten better and bigger. i am / we are humbled in the face of how awesome this adventure keeps being.

we are on the hunt for childcare, as andrea returns to work in a few weeks. during the first few weeks of her return, grandma donna (aka grandmadonna) will move in and take care of grace. and then she makes the switch to hanging out with strangers all day while we work! knowing this is coming has made it harder to say goodbye in the mornings on my way to work... and i know it's getting scary / preemptively sad for andrea, too. the end of an era approaches with teh dawning of a new one. we're excited and nervous. and keeping our fingers crossed, as we haven't yet 100% landed the solution to the after-donna-leaves scenario. we're goin forth on faith: it got us this far and will keep us going.

massive photo upload (LONG overdue) pt. 3

we decided: enough with the shirtless photos of john. so we switched to tank top photos.

and closeups.

family fun day at storm king sculpture "garden" upstate ny - 13 acres of amazingness. check it out, cityfolk.

john, dr. luger, and grace celebrate 6 years cancer-free! (grace mainly celebrated by fussing and growing an extra 2 inches onto her mohawk)

the lovely barbette from dr. luger's office (an avid blog-checker, we understand!) stops by for a visit while grace has lunch for the third time that day.

andrea looks incredible in this photo, right?

massive photo upload (LONG overdue) pt. 2

grace recently travelled to omaha, where she met tons of people and took lots of photos. however, unfortunately, only a few of those photos were with our camera, so we ain't got much proof! here she is with her great grandmother, catherine ann foley aka nanny.

and here is her aunt laura, who grace was helping celebrate involvement in the annual aksarben ball (a major social event and charity fundraiser).

massive photo upload (LONG overdue) pt. 1

a new favorite photo of grace. this comes from the photo shoot with maribeth, who had the good sense to take a photo at a time we'd never think to: during "lung exercises."