Dougherty Grandkids

Cannonfalls

James's Birthday

At The Site of Our Engagement
So today is my beloveds birthday. I've been thinking about this entry for a few days, as I feel like I've had a hard time finding the right words recently. We've been together for more than 10 years which doesn't seem like much when I think about my parents or even my siblings, but in those short ten years we've built a life together that has been rich and wonderful.

It sounds cliche, but I believe that we felt in love within minutes of meeting, and even though the path to where we are right now was not always perfect, I always knew that I had met my soul mate.






Daddy's Girl

James is truly the most remarkable person I know. And I mean that so sincerely. We've had a blessed life, but even when we've had major life changes, he's rolled through it with such strength, faith and confidence that I always know everything will be alright.

When Seamus was born, James changed his first diaper out of a dead sleep in the middle of the night, swaddled the baby snugly up, handed him back to me and kissed us both on the forehead. I looked at him and just knew, we were going to be good parents, that we could do this together.

Katie, Tom & James (Finn anyone?)
When we moved into our house, I discovered that James is wickedly handy. He went from condo living to an old house that needed TLC and it was like he could have been hosting This Old House on PBS. It was amazing to me.

Who has time to train for triathlons when you've got little kids? He doesn't. But he combines his commute with his workout (plus a little more when he can make it convenient for me) and then competes in Olympic distance events. And rocks at it. San Francisco hills? Swimming in the Bay? 105 degree Minnesota summer? -2 Minnesota winter? He can compete any any condition and just enjoy himself. No fancy equipment. No crazy schedules or diets. He just powers through everything and thrives doing it.

Life is complicated. We're still grieving Tom - I guess we understand that we always will. We miss all the Dougherty's and feel so blessed to have this extended visit with Katie. My family is wonderful and very present to us, but it is also wild and busy. We've got three kids under 4, a house and a challenging career. We know that we're luckier than 99.9% of the world, but still sometimes it feels overwhelming.

And there are some days we feel like we're barely keeping it together, but every day we look at each other and are grateful for all the love in our lives. Because even when we're tired or sad we still have each other. Seamus got up this morning and immediately wished James Happy Birthday and told him he loved him. These kids worship James and there is just nothing more fun than seeing what kind of father he is and how well the kids respond to him. There is nothing cooler than their dad and that makes me so proud of him.

Batman Begins

So James, Happy Birthday, Sweetheart. I'm looking forward to many more happy birthdays and happy years together. There is no better husband or father around. You are a blessing to everyone in your life - but none more than to me. You are my heart.








The Irish Boys














A Tree for Father's Day with the Charleston Dougherty's














Bathing Beauties












Doesn't He Look Like a Happy Dad?

This and That...

At the Cabin

Summer Lovin'

So today Katie and I were driving home with the kids and I asked Seamus if he knew what street we lived on and he said he didn't know. So I told him we lived at the corner of James and Finn - wasn't that funny. And he replied in a bit flustered tone "But I want to live at the middle of Seamus."

I wanted to say - "honey, sometimes it seems like we do..."

He's been working so hard to be good these last two days - he was crabby at bed time earlier this week and didn't get any stories. James tells he and Finn every morning that when he gets home he wants Mommy to say that the boys were a "Perfect 10" all day. When he does arrive home, he asks how they were and we usually cap out at about an 8 (you always have to leave room for improvement). Anyway, the night that Seamus didn't get a story, Finny decided he didn't need one either and promptly went to bed. But the next day, Seamus asked several times after being particularly good or brown nosing, "Is that acting like a 10, Mama?" Needless to say, sometimes we forget our own lessons that follow through is always worth it (especially when it's hardest) because bedtime has been a piece of cake ever since.

Finn has taken to sleeping in his toddler bed with an arsenal of stuffed animals - including, but not always limited to: Mr.Moo, Batman (Finn sized), Bear (from John and Maureen Dougherty), Dog (from Micheal and Elizabeth Dougherty - again not a small animal) as well as his star and moon "B". Trying to lay down and read to him is a little unsettling when you realize that you are rather low on the totem poll of bed mate accompaniment. The other night he woke up with a bad dream and after he went back to sleep I thinned out the stuffed animals so he wasn't so crowded. About 45 minutes later I hear him stumbling around his room and sure enough when I went in to check on him, all the animals were back in place. So funny.

Seamus has also been reading "adult" stories with Katie - so far they've knocked out the original versions of Peter Pan, The Wizard of Oz and wait for it....Beowulf. They are currently reading Robin Hood and I've told her that after this one, we've got remove sword play from our reading materials for a while. She's bought Oliver Twist and Black Beauty...which I believe should cut down on the swashbuckling and still keep the literary interest. It's been such a fun thing watching the two of them together - Seamus has always loved books, but now he'd spend the entire day in Katie's lap reading anything and everything he can get his hands on if he could.