Merry Christmas Eve!!

I thought I would just take a moment today to stop and reflect a teeny bit on how blessed I feel to be surrounded by family these past few days...talk about an awesome Christmas gift! I'm really not up for any more travel until well after the twinkles arrive, so having my family and Todd's family here for Christmas has just been a treasure! This has been a very low-key and relaxed season--a bit of a departure from the way we've been conducting ourselves lately. The babies' room is fully bead-boarded and the crib is in place. The back porch is awaiting windows and finishing touches. I think we are in the eye of Hurricanes James and Isabella...anyway, here are a VERY few photos from the past few days. Ty and Uncle Tim, Lily and Ty in Venice NOT seeing Santa (they posed outside Santa's display but wouldn't go in), and me--26 weeks preggo. May all of you have a blessed Christmas Eve--what a special night to anticipate the birth of the saviour of the world... cheers!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...among other things

This set of photos seems to focus mostly on Lily, but I can assure you Ty has kept busy too! Lily had her Christmas show for school last night and GG and Gran were able to come down and watch--Lily knew ALL the words to the songs and clapped at the end of each one. A week ago, I took her to see the ballet, "Cinderella," and we sat with her good friends Natalie and Vallarie. They danced during intermission and I practically had to drag her out of the theatre! She LOVED it! The photos with Ty, Lily, and Daddy are from a messy afternoon where instead of painting paper, we ended up painting mostly hands and feet. The two of them had a ball and Daddy joined in the fun when he got home from work. So far it has been a great month and I think we are all excited about Christmas this year. As for me, I am 24 1/2 weeks along and had my OB appt today and I'm measuring 33 weeks! YIKES!! The ultrasound of the babies was awesome--they are perfect and they are both the exact same size--1 pound 9 ounces each! They are about a foot long from crown to heel and moving constantly! All of their anatomy looked just as it should! Enjoy the photos--cheers!

Just a quick post...

I realized I had not written anything since my birthday and I thought I would just jot a line or two to catch up. I'm 24 1/2 weeks now and I have another appt with ultrasound on Friday--can't wait! I am extremely fatigued and I feel like my belly is going to rip open sometimes. The kiddies are great and looking forward to Christmas. Actually, that's all for now since i have to go get Ty from school. Much more later--with pictures :)

Another trip around the sun...

Ty enjoying the sand on the beach in Hilton Head--the weather cooperated perfectly!
Little boy, big world...

Lily up in the treehouse at the playground in Harbour Town--she thought she was hot stuff!
Ty and Mimi taking a break from bouncing on the bridge...
Lily in her Angelina Ballerina outfit (thank you Poppy) and Ty in 1/2 his jammies...
Our litttle family...including James and Isabella in utero...

Here's Lily in wonderland...why are stepping stones so fascinating to a three-year old?
Lily finally gets to wear her winter hat during the ONE cold day in HHI...
The stars and their supporting cast...
Mommy and Daddy at Charlie's L'Etoile Verte for Mommy's birthday...

Ty Ty and Poppy waiting to eat dinner at Truffle's...



Ty resembles his father, don't you think??? Yes, that's chocolate all over his mouth...

Lily enjoying "Blue's Clues" ice cream!
This is Lily with her "daughter," Sheepy, who accompanies her everywhere!
Mommy with her babes in Harbour Town...

Happy Birthday to me!! I turned 31 today and I can honestly say that I am comfy in my skin and not bothered--actually, I've always loved birthdays so even if I ever outwardly complain, inside I am relishing the event! At any rate, my day was spent in the car shuttling kids and making a quick visit to my OB who assured me the pressure I've been feeling is due to my body now lacking any muscle tone to support my uterus (that's what 3 pregnancies will do to you!!). I also had Ty's first alteration done today--his winter coat is not working with the sleeve rolled up. I know this will be something we do again and again as he grows and it was neat to think ahead--his little arm is such a part of his identity and funny as it sounds, I will always remember today being the first of a lifetime of alterations to perfectly fit my little man's clothes properly. This was perhaps more profound to me than other people...anyway...

We just returned from a wonderful week in Hilton Head Island with my family and we really had fun. I am certainly slowing down so it was extremely nice to have such awesome help--in fact, returning to my life has been a rude awakening! The kids had SOOO much fun in HHI, playing on the beach, taking walks with Mimi and Poppy, going to bed late... hope you enjoy our pix! Oh, and I am 22+ weeks pregnant now and measuring almost 30 weeks! Cheers!!

I feel the need to correct something...

Just a quick post tonight to mention that James' middle name is not going to be William...Todd and I decided a couple weeks ago that the name that really takes the cake for us is James McCabe. McCabe was Todd's mother's mother's maiden name. This is fitting because Isabella's middle name will be Spence, which is my mother's mother's maiden name. Just wanted to clarify before anything was monogrammed or personalized :)

Happy Halloweenie!!!

this is Lily's current obsession--Alexander... not the best photo of him (he's a very cute little boy)

Time to play catch-up a little bit...Happy Halloween everyone! Lily had a costume parade at school today and she went as a ballerina. She wore her pumpkin costume for trunk-n-treat at her school the other night, and again yesterday at my moms' group party. Ty's class didn't dress up which was just as well because he isn't keen on his lion costume. Lisa and I went to her OB's office today to have a nurse paint our bellies, which was a ton of fun. She's scheduled to deliver next Friday so we wanted to capture our bellies together. Anyway, here's a whole menagerie of photos to catch me up...enjoy!