{my little mini-me}

When you are pregnant it is pretty normal that you will daydream about who your sweet little babe will resemble.  While I totally envisioned having a little boy who looked like my Hubby, it was a little frustrating when I had Cormac and for the entire first year of his life EVERYONE said he looked like Paul.  NO ONE said he looked like me.  At all.   It wasn't that I wanted him to look like me...it was more that I personally saw a LOT of me in his giant round baby face, his blue eyes, and turned up nose.

No one else saw it, though.  So I would just smile and nod when everyone referred to him as a "little Paul" - assuming I must be just seeing him with my "mama goggles" on.

Then I had my girl - darling little Fin.

This time around I have enjoyed plenty of "she looks just like you!" exclamations from everyone - particularly from my own mother.  "It is like I am holding you all over again!" she told me when she came to help me when Finola was only three weeks old.

I was skeptical.  I thought, Perhaps people just always think the baby looks like whichever child is their same gender?

Then, when visiting my parents recently my mom broke out her treasured box of photos of all her children - one taken each year of our life.

When she showed me my three month photograph I had to do a double-take.  I honestly thought for a millisecond that it was Finola:

me - three months!  what a mean mug!

Then here is Fin at three months.  Ah!  Same hair, same eyes, exact nose, eyebrows, lips and fat double chin.

Sure, our ears are definitely different - hers are more round and stick out just a bit.  No idea where that comes from.  We have different hairlines, and she actually has more hair on the top of her head - but same color.

My point is - I never thought I would have a daughter that looks SO much like me.  But here she is.  My mini-me.  

This makes it kind of fun to imagine if she will continue to look like her mama...

Will she look like this at age two? (and, um, if you don't see Cormac in this picture then one of us is crazy.)

Or maybe like this at age three (or is it four?)

again -- clearly I am Cormac's mama

One last look at the proof that at least some of my genetics will be passed along to my children...

A big thank you to mother who (very grudgingly!) let me borrow these photographs (which, by the way, are now considered vintage/antique since I am over thirty and all.)  Anyway, I promise to mail them back asap so that you can put them back in the correct order.

I love you dearly, Mama, for making sure we got yearly photographs taken...and for your OCD-ness.

g