Christmas morning 2009

I'm pretty sure this was my most exciting Christmas ever. Jack was old enough to anticipate what was going to happen, and we counted down the days until Santa would come with our paper chain advent calendar.

Christmas morning, I was awake before the boys, making monkey bread and lighting the tree. When I first heard them stirring at around 6 a.m., I went into Jack's room and he said excitedly, "Mommy, I heard Santa!"

I remember getting a few notes from Santa when I was little, so I thought I'd leave a little note and some gumdrops (thanks to Patrick's mom) for the boys from the man in red.

Jack had asked Santa for "Mowwy and some tracks that change wines."

(I just realized I never posted pictures of their visit with Santa...that will be coming next.)

Fortunately, when Santa looked at me curiously, I just nodded and winked knowingly. I knew exactly what that meant, and quietly thanked God that he wasn't asking for something totally new since I'd already finished my Christmas shopping.

So he got lots of tracks that change wines...er, lines. And his beloved yellow engine, Molly...who has gone virtually untouched since Christmas morn, but whatever.

PJ hadn't really asked for anything because, well, he had no idea what was going on, but he got a tricycle that he loves and had to be coaxed off of in order to open the rest of his gifts.

I thought it might be nice to get a picture of each of the boys in his Christmas jammies.

Then I remembered that Jack smiles like this whenever the camera comes out. You'd think the jammies were made of burlap and barbed wire.

PJ spent much of the morning with his tongue between his teeth, exclaiming "Thhhhmmmewwy Christmas!"

Don't ask me why.

He seemed to think it was the funniest thing ever.

We were supposed to have Aunt Devon, Nana and Pop-Pop come for Christmas dinner, but they weren't feeling great and it was freezing rain, so we stayed in our pajamas all day and the boys got to play with their toys. It was the most relaxing holiday ever.

Later, the boys sat on the couch together looking at some of their new (ahem, Usborne) books. Jack is fascinated with telling the time right now, so this one was just perfect for him. It has a little clock with moving hands and he was showing PJ how they go around.

I love moments like these.

I hope everyone had a blessed Christmas and a very happy New Year!

Happy birthday, Jack!

Jack celebrated his third birthday on November 17th.

It's hard to believe that my first baby is already three.

It feels like just yesterday he was this sweet little baby...




...and now he's this sweet little boy.




He is such a wonderful big brother, and is excited to meet the new baby (he's pretty certain it's a girl). He talks so well, with a very big vocabulary, and is very inquisitive. He's kind, thoughtful and sensitive, much like his Daddy, and is rarely seen without his trusty sidekick, Lamby ("Wammy"), pictured above.

We love you so very much, Jackie! Happy birthday!

Anniversaries

Patrick and I celebrated our fourth wedding anniversary on November 5th, and the fifth anniversary of our first meeting on December 5th.

It's hard to believe that in just five short years, we met, married, moved to Pennsylvania, and are expecting our third child. It was a whirlwind romance, sort of buckle-your-seatbelts-and-hang-on-for-dear-life, but we are both so blessed.

I was sick for our wedding anniversary, so instead of a weekend away, we spent one night overnight in Annapolis, Maryland. It was lovely and we had a great time. On the ride home, Patrick's phone rang, and in a RARE (as in probably the first time it's happened) instance, he asked me to answer it for him. The number was listed, but there was no name given, so neither of us knew who it was, and the conversation went like this:

Me: Hello?
Her: Is Patrick there?
Me: Can I tell him who's calling?
Her: Uh...um....it's....uh.... (mumbling) it's Royer's Flowers.

Oh no.

My wonderful husband had ordered flowers for me and they were ready to be picked up. Sweet man. He knows that my favorite flowers are ranunculus (the orange ones above) and freesia (the white ones above), and they were absolutely gorgeous.

I am so blessed to have such a thoughtful, caring man for a husband!

I love you, Patrick!

Baby bump

Baby T is due on January 24th. The above photo was taken at 20 weeks.

We can't wait to find out if it's a boy or a girl!

We can wait for the sleepless nights, so we've been praying since the + test that this babe might be one of those rare, sleeps-through-the-night-the-first-week-home children that you read about in fairy tales and legends.


30 weeks - pop!

35 weeks - maternity shirts are almost not long enough. Combine an already-long torso with a 52-inch waist (yes, I measured it. I have a love/hate relationship with my Mommy Measure - but love you, Pam!), and there are just not that many shirts up for the challenge. I refuse to have the belly sticking out like Rachel Green on "Friends," so I'm mostly resorting to extra-large baggy t-shirts. They're unflattering, but they cover the stretch marks.

It's hard to believe that it will only be about a month before we have a new family member!

Elmo and Kermit

The boys loved Halloween.

Trick-or-treating was just surreal for Jack - collecting candy door-to-door? Just for dressing up and asking "trick or treat?"

The world is a magical place!

Getting them both to sit still beside their pumpkins, on the other hand...

Dear Diary...

...remember when I used to have a blog?

And I'd update it fairly regularly with photos of my children and tidbits about what we'd been up to recently?

And people far away could check in and see how adorable the boys are and how big they're getting and it was a nice way to stay in touch and keep people posted?

Yeah...that was awesome.

I'd like to get back to that and update it again so there's not a big gap between Halloween and the arrival of our new baby in FIVE (six) SHORT WEEKS!!

Mmmmkay? Mmmmmkay.
xoxo
Eileen


Dear Eileen,
HOP TO IT!
Diary

Painting pumpkins

We picked out some pumpkins at the local farm stand and the boys each wanted to paint theirs.

The concentration in this picture makes me smile.

I love these matching Mickey smocks that Aunt Tori gave us!

They were totally engrossed and loved every minute. And I loved watching them work together.



In a couple weeks, we'll cut out some faces and make them glow! Jack can't wait!

Small Talk

I love to record the boys talking. I like capturing the way they pronounce things, and their little voices, which are going to deepen before I know it, are so sweet.

I remember hearing audio tapes of myself when I was little. My dad or grandfather would hide a tape recorder in his pocket and have a little conversation with me. Listening to them later made me appreciate so much that they'd thought to do it.

PJ was looking at the camera on the table next to me while it was turned off and saying "cheeseburger" just a second before I picked it up and tried to catch him saying it. Of course, once the camera's on he doesn't say it again.



Then, while PJ was napping, Jack and I started looking at designs we could use to make his birthday invitations. I had put water on for tea and asked him if he'd like to have some with me. He was in. So I let him have a real teacup and we put it in a tea pot and sat at the table.

This is our conversation.



My battery cut out there at the end, but I was telling Jack that maybe we should do this every day while PJ is taking a nap.

His reply: "I fink we should!"

Apple Festival

This past weekend, we met up with some friends at a local fall festival.

The place, called Joanna Furnace, was an historic site that was used for iron production. The main furnace building was undergoing renovation, but look at how beautiful it is.

You can see that the place was perfect for kids - pony rides, tractors, trains - and had lots of delicious apple treats too!

Someone had set up these gorgeous Lionel trains, and Jack could have stood at this table for hours.

There were older men doing woodworking with tools that were either run with belts or foot operated, like this lathe.


There was a steam whistle, like one that might be on a steam train. Jack got to pull the rope on this one and make it blow. It was the highlight of his trip.

The Apple Barrel Express was also running all day. I wasn't sure how Jack would do on this - being tugged around the site while we stayed "back at the station." He loved it!





We even got a little family picture at the photo spot. It's not often that we're all in a shot together, so this one is a keeper. Look at these beautiful fall colors!


Happy Fall!

25 weeks

This picture is from three weeks ago, but I still look about the same. It's hard to believe I'll be 25 weeks pregnant tomorrow!

And now that I'm finally feeling more "whenny" than "iffy" about the baby being born, I thought maybe it was time for another poll.

As you may or may nor know, we're not finding out the gender of this baby either. It was so exciting not knowing with PJ. And when he came out, the midwife said "It's a girl!" which totally shocked me because I was so sure it was another boy. Then, one second later, Patrick (who had a side view) said, "No, a boy! A boy!" and then I was shocked all over again. Those five seconds of excitement made the whole 41 (yes, 41) weeks of not knowing so worthwhile!

A few things have me mixed about this one. First of all, my nausea started sooner than it did with the boys, and it lasted much longer. I was queasy from about 5 weeks to 18 weeks. I'm also feeling much more uncomfortable in the...um..."chestular" area than I was with them. These things, combined with the fact that I'm much more emotional this time around (though that could be attributed to the sheer exhaustion that comes from being pregnant with two toddler boys), have me wondering if it's a girl.

However, at our 21-week ultrasound, the tech, in trying to get a better view of the spine (baby was being uncooperative) flitted oh-so-quickly past the baby's nether regions and both Patrick and I wondered if we'd seen a boy part.

It's hard to believe that in just 15 weeks - well, who am I kidding? More like 16 and a half weeks - we'll get to meet this new little person. What an amazing privilege it is.

Remind me of that about 6 weeks after s/he's born, will you?

Vote in the poll to the right and let me know if you think it's going to be another little boy Baby T for us (as is only fitting, as Patrick grew up in a household with SIX sisters!) or a little girl Baby T.