Pregnancy Updates

It's hard to believe we are over halfway through this pregnancy. It is going so fast and so slowly all at the same time. Brenna is getting excited about her baby brother and enjoys giving him kisses already. (Hopefully that continues once he arrives!). Here are a couple pictures documenting the baby growing.

 We've been taking a picture most weeks to document our little one growing and growing. You can definitely tell the difference now!!

It was definitely an experience at the ultrasound finding out we are having a boy. We told the tech we wanted to know the gender and she said she would do her best. About one minute into the ultrasound she said, I know what you are having! We knew too. It was clearly a boy :) We had the rest of the ultrasound to let the news sink in. I cried a little--both because we will have a son, we are not having another girl, and we have a healthy baby growing. It was a combo of all three. And after I had fun buying some cute boy clothes at Target and making an announcement for Facebook (clearly the important things in life.)

Exciting things coming in 2016!!

Baby McGah #2 will be making an arrival come July...we are due July 4th!!

Back to Blogging!

After an unintentional break from blogging, I am starting up again!! Life is full and fun--I am excited to get back to to sharing bits of it here.

Brenna is nearly two and is so fun. She loves to laugh, enjoys la escuelita (her school is in Spanish!), and is very busy. Recently she has taken to saying some words in Spanish and some words in English--such as only saying mano (hand), suave (gentle), and chichi (for leche, or milk). Some words are always in English, even if you say them in Spanish to her, such as bye bye. It really is amazing how little brains work and that she can translate so fluidly already!

This weekend Pat is in Kansas City for Erin and Derik's wedding. I had a meeting this morning so Aunt Colleen babysat. Brenna and Colleen had a wonderful morning taking a bus ride! Brenna was captivated by the bus, looking out the window, and saying hi to everyone. Brenna and Colleen had so much fun today that when we dropped Colleen off at home Brenna cried when she left. I get it, Aunt Colleen is pretty cool. Good thing we talk to her all the time and our next visit won't be too far off :) Here are a few highlights from the bus ride with Aunt Colleen.

Easter Celebrations

We had a great time celebrating Easter this year! Brenna got a few fun gifts from the Easter bunny...a new backpack, crayons, and a coloring book. She loves putting things in bags and carrying around my purses, so I thought it would be fun if she had a bag of her own. The backpack is practically as big as she is, but she loves it!! 

Easter backpack...a dog of course!

coloring in her new coloring book

Brenna was very lucky to get a car for Easter from Grandma Ann and Grandpa Bill. Pat enjoyed putting it together and now Brenna absolutely loves her car. Many mornings she has had her morning bottle while sitting in her car :)

I couldn't get a great picture of Brenna after mass because she was more interested in running around. At least this one there are cute flowers even if she is on the move.

For Easter dinner we went to my Uncle John and Kathy's house. Yes, between mass and dinner Brenna got a huge bruise on her forehead. She was walking while holding a big, wooden cube toy and fell, hitting her head right on the corner. Thankfully there was no blood, but she has a pretty nasty bruise. She didn't let that stop her from having a great rest of the day!

Brenna coloring with cousins Parker and Chloe. Brenna was loving playing with the big kids!

March Madness

Today GU lost in the Elite Eight after an awesome season. It was sad to watch them lose to Duke, but Brenna and Nolan still loved cheering for their Zags!

12 month photos and first birthday

It's hard to believe the Brenna is ONE! This week Pat and I have been reminiscing about where we were this week last year and what we were doing. On December 4th I texted Colleen to say "this day last year I was in labor the entire day...and it's not Brenna's birthday" to which she replied "Happy Labor Day!" 

It's amazing how much she has grown and changed over this year. She is such a happy, fun, inquisitive, funny, outgoing, and wonderful person!!

Here is her 12 month photo shoot:

I think this photo represents that challenge it was to get her to sit down for any pictures :) 

 For her birthday we celebrated with some friends and family at our place. Brenna enjoyed her first (and second) cupcake and loved seeing many of her (and her parent's friends). Her favorite gift was actually one of the cards, from Paul and Madison, that plays the Star Wars song when you open it. Pat was over the moon that this was her favorite :)

Here are a few highlights from the birthday celebrations...

she is obsessed with this card, and dances every time she opens it and the music starts :)

just a little frosting :) but notice, almost the whole cupcake is gone!

so much birthday fun!

Thanksgiving in Sunny Newport Beach

This year for Thanksgiving, the McGah's all headed to Newport Beach! This is the last year Peter and Caroline will be living there so we wanted to enjoy one more warm Thanksgiving while we could. It was the first time all of us have been together since Brenna was born--and she loved it all!!! From the moment we arrived Brenna was so excited to have her grandparents, aunt, and uncle all there to play with!

Our journey the night before Thanksgiving couldn't have been better. I had the day off of school thanks to our Cross Country team winning State. So I had the whole day to do laundry, relax, pack, and then go get Brenna and be off for the airport. Here are the amazing things that happened on the "worst day to travel":
-dropped off the car and the shuttle was waiting for us right away
-got through security in about 10 minutes
-got randomly chosen for TSA pre-check which meant shoes stayed on and nothing had to come out of our bags
-found a table in the food court right away, with a high chair
-had time for Brenna to play in the play area
-had time to grab a drink (and saw Paul Silvi!)
-had an empty seat in our row for the flight
-flight left early because everyone was boarded
-Brenna slept for most of the flight
-Brenna woke up for about 30 minutes at the end of the flight and proceeded to smile at everyone around us

we each go our choice of drinks

ready for California!!

playing in the extra seat before our flight took off

On Thanksgiving, Caroline cooked up an amazing meal for us all while we played and hung out. She is the best!!! Brenna had fun helping out in the kitchen :)

 While Caroline cooked, we took advantage of the 80 degree weather and hit the pool!

Our meal was wonderful and it was so fun to all be together!

seriously amazing!

Brenna and I took many walks around the community Peter and Caroline live in. It was so beautiful the whole weekend.

 On Friday we hit the beach! It was 75 degrees and a perfect day to hang out at the beach. We got lunch with Elaine, Rachel, Finn, and Brannon who drove over from Rachel's house. The boys absolutely loved playing in the ocean and had no fear of the waves!

We got a few family pictures while out to dinner with Bill's cousin and his family!

love

 On Saturday afternoon we headed out to Balboa Island to walk around and enjoy the views and weather. It was amazing to be able to walk around in flip flops and shorts!

All the houses get super decorated for Christmas. It was hilarious to see the yard covered in fake snow next to the ocean :)

Our wonderful hosts. Brenna loved every minute spending time with her aunt and uncle!!

After a fun and sunny weekend we were headed back to Seattle. 

Brenna was excited to be home, but more excited to play inside the suitcases :)

11th months old!!

As each month goes by we have more and more outtakes!! Now that Brenna is walking, it's even harder to get her to sit still for any length of time :)

First Halloween!

We had a wonderful time celebrating Brenna's first Halloween! Pat decided around last March what her costume would be...Yoda!! To celebrate we went over to Grandma Sue and Papa Joe's house. Grandma Sue has loved Star Wars since it first came out :)

Here are a few pictures of our great night together.

And the best one :)