Let It Snow!

All I can say is, It's about time! For a girl who grew up in New England, waiting till almost February for the first snowfall of the season is no fun... Today's snow is FUN - although it will be wrecked by an ice storm we're supposed to get overnight into tomorrow. So Daddy came home for lunch to get the driveway done and to play in the snow. This was Brody's first time REALLY playing in snow since we have had a dry past couple of winters - and he had so much fun climbing "mountains" as he called them. They both helped Daddy shovel the driveway and cruised around on their sled, and made snow angels. So much fun in the snow!

A New Room for Brody

With the new baby coming in just four short months and taking over Brody's room (the "baby room"), we've started working on our bonus room - the big room over the old section of the house - making a corner of it into a new bedroom for Brody. The big room had become our "attic" where we stored all kinds of things that we either didn't need, or that should have been in our actual attic! So a few weekends ago we spent the entire weekend up there going through things and (almost) completely clearing it out to get ready. Then this weekend Kevin took on his all-too-familiar role of weekend warrior, rolling back the carpet on one end of the room and starting to frame up B's new room with the help of his dad and our friend John. It looks great! Lots of work still to do with wiring, HVAC, drywall, all that fun stuff - but it's underway and we are excited. Once the new room is done and the HVAC is in, we'll redo the rest of the "big room" into an upstairs play room/rec room.

"Before" shot of the corner where Brody's room will be.

A "before" shot of the whole room from the far end. Through the door is the rest of the upstairs and bedrooms - the plan is to replace the door with a French door.

The fellas hard at work on wall #1


Brody is pretty excited about his "big boy room"

The new room all framed up. The doorway to the room is just inside the main door.

View of Brody's room from the "playroom"

View from inside back corner. Those are some high ceilings!

Mommy & Her Boy

There's something so sweet about my little boy's hugs - it's hard to describe but those little arms around my neck and the "I love you, Mommy's" are so precious - maybe because the moments where he actually stops long enough to give a hug are so few and far between!

The Little Things...

Oh to be two and three years old again! The entertainment of the morning was, of all things, a big strip of bubble wrap that came with a Christmas gift we finally unwrapped and hung yesterday. This was the GOOD bubble wrap - the one with the big bubbles that makes huge pops when you jump on it. We made a walkway of it, and Sky & Brody kept busy (and got exhausted!) for about a half hour running back & forth and laughing hysterically. What a reminder about the simplest things bringing such joy! I sat and laughed while I watched them because they were just SO happy at such a small (and free!) thing...

It's a...

Well, we didn't find out if it's a boy or a girl baby. But we DID get to see every other inch of our little baby today at our 20-week sonogram, and we drank it all in. The sonogram was at my maternal-fetal specialist's office, so we felt like we got to see a lot more of the detail than we did with our other two. The little heart with its four chambers... the brain... hand with five fingers... the two bones in each leg... feet... knees... and of course the creepy straight-on face shot. They had us look away when they got to "that" part so that we wouldn't accidentally see anything, if there was anything to see. I felt like I could have sat and watched the baby wave his/her hands in front of his/her face forever - and I loved feeling the baby move at the same time as I saw it on the screen. Yes, I know it's the third pregnancy - but it still feels just as special as the first time. It also brought back a memory of my dad when I emailed him the first sonogram we had done of Skyla - he sent me a really sweet email and said all he could think about was the scripture verse "You have knit me together in my mother's womb... I am fearfully and wonderfully made." It's so amazing to see how God truly does knit together the baby week by week and month by month. We fell in love with this baby today...

A Match Made in Heaven

Last Christmas, Grammy gave Skyla her first American Girl doll - Bitty Baby, who she named Chatham (the name of the town on the Cape where my family cottage is). Okay, I encouraged her with the name. :-) THIS year for Christmas, Grammy gave Skyla & Chatham matching pajamas, which they tried out for the first time last night. So adorable. Sky has not let Chatham out of her sight since they got dressed after her bath, and she looks like such a big girl. So sweet!

Over the River and Through the Woods (and Up 95)...

It's been awhile... We just got back from our trip up to Plymouth, MA to see my family. Susan & Ryan also came up from PA, so all of us were together and got to finally meet the little Milo, newest member of our family. The kids were so excited to see their baby cousin and we caught a glimpse of how they will be with our new baby - both of them were so sweet with him. We had a really fun time, staying in a nearby apartment in the same complex as Mom lives, and spending lots of time hanging out, having another Christmas together, and of course eating. I've posted lots of pictures - hopefully not TOO obnoxious. We just got a lot of fun ones!

Grammy with her three grandchildren!

The three cousins. Hard to get them to all three look at the camera!

Skyla and her little guy - she loves helping to take care of him.

Christmas! Kind of crazy with so many people but lots of fun of course.

This is before the room got completely trashed with wrapping paper. :-)


The gang's all here - Ryan & Susan, Erin and Mom

We all fought over holding Milo whenever he was around. Such a little snuggler!

Skyla & Brody watching Donald Duck with Uncle Mike.

A grat view of his little face - isn't he a sweetie?

Skyla practicing her mommy skills.

I know everyone is shocked that the Belle princess dress made the trip up to MA to show everyone... along with the accessories.

On our last night we made an outing to a Japanese hibachi steakhouse. The kids loved the eating part, but were not huge fan of the big flames!

Three generations - Skyla looks mildly terrified of the flames that could come at any moment!

Brody figured out in his own way how to use the chopsticks like a champ. Of course our vegetarian ate mostly rice and eggs.

Our last night at Grammy's - Skyla & Grammy reading one last book to hold them over till February.

Brody entertaining the room.