36 Weeks and Counting...

Not pregnant...


Hugely pregnant!

Photoshoot

Aiden posed for a catalog for a local organic clothing company. I knew he wouldn't be into smiling, but we almost got a few by the end. He still looks pretty darn cute!

Knoxville Zoo

Daddy and Aiden went on a boys trip to Knoxville to let Mommy rest for a weekend. They had lots of fun visiting Grandma and Grandpa Siddall and going to the zoo. Aiden loved seeing all of the animals, especially the monkeys! He also loved getting one of Mommy's favorite zoo things; the old-timey wax animal molds. Can't wait until we get to take all three kids to the zoo!

Valentine's Cookies

Aiden helped Izzy make some tasty cookies to mail to Aunt Jenny for Valentine's Day. There were many tastings and fingers in the frosting along the way. Good thing Aunt Jenny is a good sport about fingered up cookies!

27 Week Ultrasound

The twins are both doing great at 27 weeks. Each weighs over 2lbs. They are extremely active and keep me up all night with their antics. Unfortunately for Baby A, Baby B is sitting on it's face. Must be a boy with that kind of humor!

Potty Praise

We have been working with Aiden on trying to potty-train before the new babies arrive. The results go back and forth. Some days we go several days without a diaper or accidents, and some days he insists on wearing a diaper. We don't want to push him too hard, but the day is coming where there will be no more diapers. He was doing so great the other day that Daddy bought him a little treat of a sucker and coloring book. As you can see, he really enjoys the sucker!

Snow Shoveling

Aiden and Daddy braved our most recent snowstorm to get out there and shovel the driveway. Aiden was quite the helper and was loving getting the "ice balls" off the driveway. Afterwards Daddy pulled him around the neighborhood in his saucer sled, but he doesn't like going down hills on it. When they came in, Mommy made the chilly boys hot cocoa (which Aiden hadn't had before and loved!) and soup. The perfect end to a snowy day.

Painting the Room for the Babies

Aiden loves to help, so we let him paint some swatches on the wall for the babies' new room. He seems to really be understanding the pregnancy now. He likes to say "two babies in mommy's tummy...twins!" and "hi, babies". We have been reading him his books about pregnancy and being a big brother and he loves to talk about how the doctor measures my tummy and listens for the heartbeats. He has agreed to share his toys with the babies, but not his little rocking chair.

Family Time

Being snowed-in has given us all a chance to relax and enjoy some family time together. Matthew's work has a mandatory shut-down for the week after Christmas, so we were so fortunate to all be together. Next year there will be 5 of us enjoying our family time!

White Christmas

We had quite the snowstorm on Christmas day. It was nice because we had nowhere to go and nothing to do, except play with Aiden's new toys...unfortunately nobody was able to make it over for the prime rib dinner because we all ended up being snowed in! We didn't leave the house for 5 days and loved every minute of being stuck.

Rather Under-Impressed

Apparently Santa needs to step up his game, because all Aiden cared about first thing Christmas morning was all of the presents Izzy and Papaw gave him the night before. We had to force him to open his presents from Santa! He finally opened them, but then went right back to playing with his train set and coloring book. He was happy that Santa remembered his "yellow choo-choo train" as it went so well with his gift from Izzy and Papaw!

Christmas Morning

Once Aiden got into the swing of things, he really enjoyed opening his presents!

Christmas Eve with Izzy and Papaw

We all headed up the mountain to celebrate Christmas Eve with Izzy, Papaw, and Aunt Jenny. After a delicious dinner of pork roast and dumplings (and lots of chocolate almond milk for Aiden), he was ready to rip into his presents. He waited very patiently for the fun moment! He was very excited about getting a train set and a "Woody and Buzz" coloring book.

Ornament Painting

We were looking for a fun project to personalize Christmas presents for the grandparents, so painting ornaments seemed like a good idea. Aunt Jenny came along to help keep Aiden "on track" during the painting process...the brushes are just too much fun!

Surprise, surprise!

We went for our first ultrasound tonight...and were extremely surprised to find out that we are having twins! I was having all sorts of twins dreams when we first found out we were expecting, but the midwives assured me that I wasn't measuring big enough for twins. Turns out mother's intuition was right on! The babies look great and are both on target for size. Now WE just have to get on target. Turns out we're going to need one more of everything =)
We couldn't be more excited, this is going to be an awesome ride!

A Little Holiday Baking

Aiden loves to help bake in the kitchen...but his favorite part is licking the beater!

Trimming the Tree

Aiden was such a helper with the tree this year. The only concept he didn't quite grasp was spreading the ornaments out when hanging them. We ended up with about 20 ornaments in a one foot square space! He was so proud of hanging them, though!