Birthday Boy

Happy 30th Birthday Pat!!

I truly could not ask for a better partner in life and I feel so blessed to be married to such an incredible guy.  I cannot imagine my life without him, and am so thankful that it is his hand I hold on this journey.

It’s been 4 months and two days since Brienna was in our arms.   When I think back to that day, some of my favorite memories are of Pat and Brienna together.  He was such a natural; gentle, tender and just so enamored with his little girl.  Watching him hold her, rock her, bathe her, swaddle her (his swaddling skills were very impressive and far superior to mine!), cuddle her and love her simultaneously broke and melted my heart.  Seeing them together quite literally took my breath away …

Daddy's Little Girl
Daddy's Little Girl

Happy Birthday Pat … you are a great father, a wonderful husband and my best friend.  I love you.

Love,
Laus

Mid-Summer Recap

It’s been a busy few weeks for our little family … we spent 4th of July on the Cape with Pat’s family, and had a great weekend.  The weather was beautiful, and we enjoyed some much needed time at the beach with Bailey.  Despite our best efforts to get her in the water, she is still petrified!  She she never fails to make us smile though, and that is good enough for us.

We also planted a hydrangea tree Brienna’s memory.  The tree was a gift from Judi’s coworkers and will no doubt be beautiful …

After another weekend on the Cape to celebrate Aunt Mo being in town, Pat and I headed to Washington DC, while Bailey enjoyed some time with her buddy Maggie at my parents house.  Pat was asked to speak at a conference on social media in government, so we decided to take advantage of the great location and I tagged along.  We were able to take in all the sights, as well as meet up with one of our friends from PC.  It was nice to get away for a few days, but we’re happy to be home.

While Pat was attending the conference, I took advantage of the nice (hot) weather and ran along the Potomac River.  It’s a very beautiful trail and I thought of Brienna the entire time … beautiful things tend to remind me of her … also, in the past, I never would have ventured off on my own … but she has taught me that life is short, and to take full advantage of the time we’re given.  I am so thankful to her for that gift.

I also visited Arlington National Cemetery, where my maternal great-grandfather is buried.  If you’ve been to ANC, you know it’s HUGE.  My aunt Patty visited a few months before, so I was very lucky and already had the location of his grave.  I had been there once before when I was about 10, but it meant quite a bit more this time around.  It is such a remarkable place … there is so much history and I’m proud that “the Colonel” is buried there.  My nephew Quinn has quite the namesake!  And no, there is no relation to the Quinn’s on Pat’s side of the family – we hope anyway!!

We returned home to celebrate my parent’s 34th wedding anniversary, and will celebrate the Marr’s 33rd anniversary next weekend – quite an accomplishment and we’re very proud of our parents!

We are so thankful to everyone for helping us keep Brienna’s memory alive. She will never be forgotten by us, and it’s comforting that so many others still think of her.  It’s hard to believe that almost seven weeks have passed.  Not a day goes by that we don’t ache for her.  She is such a treasured part of our lives.  We are so thankful to have each other, as well as the continued love and prayers of our families and friends … thank you all so much.

We hope to have some new pictures to share soon!!

MiniMarr and LittleConroys

This is a little belated, but better late than never!  We celebrated Easter last weekend with my brother and his family.   It was in a way, a reunion of sorts.  The last time most of us were together was out in Oregon in September.  Toot was there too, we just didn’t know it yet!!

The new Wisconsonites flew into Boston Thursday night and we spent Friday just hanging out at the house and taking the boys to the Children’s Museum.  Quinn got to ride on a train, and was very excited about it.  The conductor gave the 7 of us a family fare, hinting that I was under 18 so it was okay … I smiled and said yes, quickly hiding my pregnant belly 🙂  We had a great afternoon, and met Kris to take the train home from Boston and back to Canton.  I can remember going to the Children’s Museum when I was little, but it was neat to see it through Quinn’s eyes.  He dove right into all sorts of activities, having a blast with the boats (and ending up soaked) and fun with bubbles, trucks, balls and all sorts of other activities …

Reece turned 1 on April 7, so we had a little birthday party for him on Friday night.  He loved being sung to, which totally cracked me up.  He just knew we were singing to him and would smile and clap, it was adorable!  Being the good big brother that he is, Quinn graciously helped open all his presents too.   We had a little open house on Saturday so all our relatives could see the boys (it’s quite an occasion when they come to town!) and the Marrs came to visit too!  It was a great afternoon and I loved having my entire family together.  Easter Sunday was all about the boys … we had an Easter egg hunt, decorated eggs and opened lots of Easter presents.  It was a great weekend, and hard to say goodbye to everyone!

Bailey was of course with us too, and despite her initial trepidation about the little people, she quickly learned that when kids are around, food is dropped and therefore she can eat it!  She followed Quinn everywhere (who also quickly learned that Bailey would try and eat everything and kept his hand up in the air if he had food in it) and sat beside Reece for every meal … needless to say, she was well fed all weekend!  Here’s the none-too-pleased Easter Bailey:

We hope everyone had a great Easter and is enjoying the awesome spring weather!  It’s hard to believe it’s the middle of April already!  We’re getting closer and closer to our due date and anxiously awaiting the arrival of our sweet Toot 🙂  Thank you again for all of your continued thoughts and prayers.  We appreciate them more than you know!

A long overdue update!

It has such been a long time since we’ve blogged, I figured I’d just post a little update!

Miss Toot has been a busy girl!  In the past month, she’s been to NYC, the Cape, Boston (several times) and today, the beach!  Things started off in NYC with a visit to Aunt Kristen over President’s Day Weekend.  It was a much needed weekend away and we had a great time!  Here we are with Lady Liberty wishing everyone a Happy Valentine’s Day:

The weekend flew by (they always do!), but we had a great time and it was really nice to escape for a little bit! The following weekend we headed to the Cape to check out the new Marr house.  It is coming along great and we’re very excited for summer to arrive!

Today though, was all about Bailey.  Since it was so beautiful out this weekend, we decided to spend as much time as possible outside.  Yesterday we went for a nice, long walk on a golf course, but today when we went, there were golfers there (go figure) so we had to come up with plan B.  We decided to head to the beach and it was a very good decision!  I was incredibly anxious that B would not play nicely with all the people and other dogs, but I was mistaken.  She was so good.  We got several comments about how good looking she is, and despite the fact that Pat and I have nothing to do with her looks, we’re ridiculously proud anyway!  We let her off the leash so she could chase her prized tennis ball and she had us laughing out loud because the waves petrified her.  She loved running on the sand, but anytime that mean water chased her, she hightailed it in the other direction.  It made us (and everyone else) smile and laugh.  Here she is waiting for the next toss of the ball from Pat – note the length of her tongue!

It was a very successful trip, and we’re looking forward to taking her again soon!  Hopefully the weather will cooperate – I can’t believe it’s March already!  When we found out in December that Toot was sick, I didn’t think we’d ever make it to this point.  I couldn’t even begin to fathom the journey that awaited us.  But we’re plugging along, making the most of every day that we can.  Every minute we get with Toot is truly a gift and we cherish the time we have with her … she is a special little girl that we love more than words can accurately describe.  Thank you again for all your thoughts and prayers, they are truly appreciated!