Houston, we have a smiler!

He's been doing it for a week or two, but I hadn't been able to catch it until today!

Merry Christmas...

...from our family to yours.

We Believe.

{Our Tree, 2011}

We believe.

We believe in the beauty of anticipation.

We believe in showering our loved ones with treasures, whether they've been naughty or nice.

We believe that there is nothing better than time with family.

In the shopping & the stress, the excitement and the exhaustion, we believe in the magic of Christmas and can't wait to share it with our two beautiful sons...our biggest gift of all this year.

Flashback Friday: The Beach

I just realized that I never posted the pictures that we had taken at the beach! Although we were kind of disappointed with the photographer overall, there were some really nice shots in the bunch.

Next time, I hope we take family portraits when I'm not seven months pregnant!!

(My parents!)

 (My brother and soon to be sister-in-law!)

(Our Family!)

Wordless Wednesday: Sneak Peek

Yesterday, we had our newborn/family photo session with Stephanie Fisher, the amazing photographer who took Liam's newborn photos. Not only am I so excited to see the shots of Jack in some really cute little hats, but I also can't wait to see the shots of me & my boys-- a new family of four!

(This pic was posted on FB yesterday-- we should see a few more shots on her blog in the next day or so, then our online gallery will be available to view in a few weeks. I'll update this post when there are more to see, hopefully tomorrow!)

Thankful

My post is a few days late because we didn't celebrate Thanksgiving on Thursday this year-- My brother and his fiancee had to work on Thanksgiving day, so we delayed our big meal until last night so that they could join us.

We had a delicious dinner with all of our traditional foods: smoked turkey, mashed potatoes, green beans, sweet potato casserole, dressing and rolls. (We don't even bother making dessert because we eat so much everything else!) I even enjoyed a few glasses of red wine. Yum.

I love Thanksgiving. While it's often hectic trying to prepare the meal, it doesn't carry the stress of Christmas-- no shopping, wrapping, stress about money or traveling-- just family and food and fun.

This year, I have been unbelievably blessed and have so much to be thankful for.

I have  wonderful friends & family who check on us, offer to help, hold our babies, bring us dinners, and constantly show their love for us. (It amazes me that a family our size has remained so close, despite our hectic lives. Though we did small individual family Thanksgiving celebrations this year, we'll all be together again at Christmas. I can't wait. The baby boom that's happened in the last 14 months will make this year extra special.) 

I have wonderful parents who are so involved in our lives and who help us in so many ways, from fixing things around our home to helping us care for our kids. (I've never seen any grandparents who love their grandchildren more!)

I have a husband who is great with our children, amazing at keeping up with things at home, works incredibly hard at his job and at grad school & always makes me laugh.

And, I have my boys.

My Liam, who I'm constantly in awe of... so smart, so inquisitive, so funny, so amazing. I never thought I could love so much.

And, my Jack, the best surprise of my life...I never knew that my heart could double...Love doesn't divide. It multiplies.

Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone.

(Mostly) Wordless Wednesday: Rambling Man

Before Jack came along, we still saw Liam as a baby-- but now that little brother has taken on that role, it's easy to see that Liam is ALL toddler (which thrills me and kills me at the same time). One of his favorite things to do is to take walks down our street with Daddy. Rob used to carry him and answer all of Liam's questions as he pointed to a new object and asked, "What's that?" every five seconds. 

He's been walking for about six weeks, but over the past few weeks, he's become more & more steady on his feet. Monday, Daddy & Liam went on their first walk where Liam walked down the street all by himself! He had such a great time, he cried when he had to come inside.

Who dressed him with socks up to his knees, colonial style? 

Hint: It wasn't mommy!