Family Entertaining Kids

As my belly continues to grow, I realize how thankful I am for family. Elizabeth and Tom have enjoyed spending time with family near and far over the past several weeks. I have enjoyed watching the kids do things without me, although it is hard not being able to crawl through the tunnel at the park or hold them at the aquarium, but at least I have gotten some great pictures!

Elizabeth and Aunt Virginia stroll through Homewood Park

Elizabeth shouting from inside the tunnel, she thought this was very cool

Taking a break in order to hydrate ....and for the record sweet Aunt Virginia climbed through the tunnel too! Ashley, John and John Henry celebrating the little guys first birthday

Tom's first solo ride on a "4 wheeler"

Tom LOVED the bouncy cage!

Elizabeth and Tom's first trip to the Georgia Aquarium with Powell Grandparents "Look at All of these fish!!!"

Pure JoyAfter the aquarium, we played outside... We spent the night with our Grandparents and they let us play with Toppy's bucket of golf balls

...it was so much fun! Notice all the balls in the background.

The Powells and Whitfields at Beau's Baptism

(It is too funny to see us all with kids. Tom and Andy grew up together in Atlanta)

...stay tuned for more updates in pictures!

Haircut

Well, I know you are probably saying, "It is about time." Yes, I finally broke down and took Tom and Elizabeth to get a trim. Honestly I was waiting on that first curl to appear, but it never happened. I think reality hit when my mom said look at my hair (which is straights as a board, as is Tom's), do you really think you kids will have curly hair?

So, I sucked up my pride and patience and decided to have a stranger snip their hair for the first time. The mullet is gone, the Donald Trump comb over has been retired, with out further hesitation, drum roll please....

A close-up of the before:

Tom never cried, of course he was sitting in his daddy's arms eating goldfish.

It was definitely a family affair, including Mia, who took video and entertained Elizabeth After the final snip, we collected some hair and Tom received his First Haircut Certificate

Elizabeth does not really have any hair, vary similar to me as a child,

she just needed a little clean up.

Here is a before picture (she is in a tunnel at the park and the static took over):

She was not really sure what to think about this lady cutting her hair

Yet again, it was a family affair - Papa and Mia were also in the audience

Outside Angel Hair in Crestline Village:

Christmas in Pictures

Such a fun and busy end of the year - here are the holidays in pictures.....

Christmas celebration at the Powells The happy engaged couple - Laura and Kyle

Robert and girlfriend Kate Tom, Jo Ann, Elizabeth and Tom with their new ride-on toys

Elizabeth loves her new wheels

Tom decided he wanted a turn

The bumblebee was a bit tricky, but definitely a hit!

Needless to say, the kids really racked-up Now off to Birmingham to continue the celebration. The Powell family on the way to Christmas Eve service Christmas morning we were up at 6:30 am so we decided to go over to

VJ's house and tell him Merry Christmas....since he tends to sleep-in Elizabeth, still dressed in her pjs really enjoyed playing with VJ's stack of magazines

Christmas Morning - in the outfits I made....Martha Stewart watch out...not really So the Mia and Papa (the Graffeo Grandparents) gave Elizabeth and Tom these great ride-on toys that make noise. It was funny, my dad did not notice that Elizabeth's toy required assembly (hence the no wheels). She was very confused why Tom was mobile and she was not, it was really comical. In case there are any new grandparents out there - word to the wise - if you buy a noisy toy, it will stay at your house and will be utilized extensively during visits!!

Christmas lunch at my Uncle Mike's - it was delicious. Here are two of the three Graffeo brothers and their sons - Matt and VJ.

Powell family photo plus the Godfather

After lunch we had about 45 minutes at my parents house to regroup (aka finish opening presents) and then head to the Zicarelli Christmas dinner. The food was incredible and there was lots of it!!!! For the first time ever, we played Dirty Santa, which went over really well!

Many thanks to Aunt Kathy who hosted everyone and read the night before Christmas

In between lunch and dinner we tried to take a family photo on the front steps. Do you ever wonder how I get Elizabeth and Tom to smile.....I have my parents act like fools :)

Amazingly it was a really nice day and not very cold - here is the current Powells family.....

...and another Powell family shot with 'Peaches' included

Believe it or not, this is the entire Zicarelli family. I hope I say this some what correctly - two grandparents, one great aunt, 5 aunts, 5 uncles, 14 grand children

and 2 great grandchildren....Grand Total - 29!

And two days after Christmas I hosted a bachelorette party for my sis Laura. Here is the bride and the MOB (Mother of the Bride).

Laura has some great friends and the party was so fun!!

I hope you all enjoyed the holidays with those you love. Happy New Year!

Happy Birthday...and Baby Stats

What kind of wife would I be without paying birthday homage to my sweet husband and my babies' daddy. Happy Belated Birthday Tom!!!!

Tom has been such a trooper over the years to put up with all of my crazy ideas, weird ways and strange eating habits. I swear we both have changed some much over the eleven years we have know each other, but still remain a perfect match and always make each other laugh. For those of you that know me, I would have NEVER guessed that the guy that approached me in Freshman Economics with "Is this seat taken?" would one day be my husband. Regardless, Tom is the most persistent, honest person I know - life would be so boring without him. He has the funniest and most random stories, not to mention, he is a great father. Enough bragging on my part - Happy Birthday Tom, I love you! With Tom's birthday only a few days before Christmas, his big day sometimes gets pushed to the back burner, while folks focus on the upcoming holiday. Well, I had every intention of making Tom's 30th birthday super special, but I am not too sure his actual birthday was all that. However, his five night out of town hunting trip threw a bit of a kink into my plans. Being out of town the week before Christmas did have its perks for Tom (he relied on his sweet wife to do ALL of the Christmas shopping and a great way to wind down from a long year). Five nights away from home with a pregnant wife and twins sounds a bit overwhelming, but honestly it really flew by. Many thanks to the Powells for preparing a great dinner the night of Tom's true birthday, it was delicious!

Over the course of the week, the twins and I had our first overnight play date with the Beckers. The kids had a blast - Kindrea has a 2.5 year old son and 3.5 month old twin girls - yes that's right five kids under three had a sleep over and surprisingly everyone slept really well. We had a little adult time to catch up and swap stories, but by the time the kiddos were in bed we were tired and longing to get some rest before the chaos started again early the next morning.

Other than the play date, my mom took off work and spent a couple nights with me (which was so much fun) so time really did go by quickly. Mom is so great with Elizabeth and Tom and they enjoyed having her around for several days in a row. Mom (Elizabeth and Tom) also went with me to one of my doctors appointments - it was really neat for my mom to be there because this was her first time she could see my unborn baby. Ultrasounds have changed a bit over the past 29 years. Of course Elizabeth and Tom did not really understand why we kept saying 'baby' and pointed to the black and white screen, but maybe someday they will read this blog and know they were there, also viewing their unborn sibling move around in my belly.

In addition to my perinatal appointment, the twins also had their 15 month check-up, a little behind schedule. I wanted to be sure and capture some milestones for the twins and plan on doing the same for baby #3, so below are some details on where they are currently:

Elizabeth

Weight: 21.10 pounds, 45th%

Height: 32 inches, 90th%

Teeth: 10 total - four on top and bottom and two molars on the bottom

Other fun happenings: starting to 'shake her booty' on command, which really means dancing; she can rapidly climb up the steps, but has not master down just yet; starting to somewhat repeat words if you ask; very, very attached to mom. Oh and her latest trick, standing up in the highchair, which is not a good thing.

Tom

Weight: 18.11 pounds, 3rd%

Height: 31.24, 65th%

Teeth: 8 total - four on top and bottom...and they are all very very sharp!!!

Other happenings: Can almost climb a complete case of stairs, rarely takes his glasses off, eating machine (just waiting for the food to stick to his bones), and yes still supporting a mullet but I have plans to cut his hair very soon!

I hope you all enjoyed the holidays and I will post some other pictures from Christmas and New Years!!