Birth Announcement

Here are the birth announcements I designed for Madison and Jackson. I never mailed any out and at this point I just don't feel like gathering all the addresses I would need. So I figured I'd post it here so people can at least see the work I did.

You can click on it to make it bigger.

I kind of forgot to add a lot of the past photos to the gallery. I think the last page I linked was 5 and after updating there were 13 pages!
So here is page 5

A picture I can't take credit for...

Chris took this photo on his tiny point and shoot digital camera. I did do some editing in photoshop though. It's not cropped at all.

M&J's first wedding

My cousin got married yesterday. She wanted everyone to bring their kids so we were lucky to be able to spend the day with M&J. They got married in a beautiful gazebo in a lake with a stone amphetheater for the guests to watch from.

Kids

Chris's parents' neighbors are good friends of the family. They have 5 grandchildren including 6 year old boy twins. They were all visiting this weekend so we brought our twins to meet them. They were SO excited to hold and sit with them. I got a nice shot of all of them. (Jackson crying as usual!)

Lilies of the Valley

Lilies of the valley are my mother's favorite flower. When she got married in August of 1972 she really wanted them in her bouquet but they were not in season. She was able to find a fake plastic version to put in the bouquet. All my life I remember seeing one little sprig of the flowers tucked into the side of a frame and I always knew I wanted to have it in my bouquet when I got married.
When it came time for my wedding day I tucked the little sprig into the ribbon on the stem of my bouquet. Upon arriving at the church I noticed the sprig was missing. I was a little emotional to begin with but when I realized I would not get married with the same sprig my mother did I was inconsolable. Then what made it worse was that I felt SO guilty that I had lost this precious piece of history. I actually have a picture that my photographer took (which I can't show you because it would break copyright laws) of my limo driver with her hands on my shoulders trying to calm me down. The look on my face is that of a little girl who just lost her puppy. She calmed me down enough that I was able to walk down the aisle and marry a wonderful handsome man and now father of my children. After the ceremony my maid of honour, Gia came running up to me with the sprig in her hand. She had found it in the lawn of the church. I was so grateful.
Now I have lots of lilies of the valley that grow in my garden. I picked these the other day and put them in a vase disguised as a baby bottle.

May 23, 2007

May 22, 2007

Michelle and I went for our weekly walk today at my Mother's house. After, we took some time to take some pictures of Mom and 8 week old Gianna. These are my two favorites.





























Here is Jackson giving Mrs. Smith big smiles and coos














Girl Kitty bathing in the morning sun.

The Donnellys

Our long time friends Brenda and Marc came to meet the twins yesterday. Their two boys Brendan and Kyle were very excited to meet them.

May 20, 2007

2 Months old

May 17th.

Madison AND Jackson finally smiled at me today! And I mean REAL smiles that weren't followed by a fart or burp or spit up. Actually Jackson smiled at his sister the first time I saw him do it. It was SO sweet I cried!!

Here are their 2 month photos from today.

May 15, 2007

Auntie Courtney is Jackson's Godmother. We asked Chris's oldest friend Matt to be his Godfather. Uncle Mike is Madison's Godfather. We asked one of my oldest friends Rachael to be her Godmother. We put a sign on her like the one below for Rachael to find when she was visiting one day. Her reaction was priceless.

My first Mother's Day...

...a day I have waited too many years for.

My morning started out with receiving frames with M&J's hand and foot prints in them. Daddy helped them :-) Chris gave me a card acknowledging that I am the "superparent" around here. That's nice to hear after all my middle of the night feedings. Then I gave Jackson a bath and he proceeded to pee on me after. But then he cooed for the first time. It was so nice to hear a noise from him that isn't a screech.

After bathtime we went to Gloucester to visit Chris's grandmother with his parents. It was nice to have her spend some time with M&J.

Then we stopped at home to eat some lunch while the kids screamed for no reason. Then Chris took us to a lake nearby and took some pictures of my son and daughter and me (wow that's nice to see in writing).

Next was a BBQ at Chris's parents' house with Auntie Courtney and my parents.

Auntie's favorites

Olivia Grace

For 2 wonderful years I was lucky enough to take care of the third most fabulous child on the planet. Her name is Olivia Grace. Today is her 3rd birthday and I can not believe how big she is and how fast it has gone. She was born in the same hospital as M&J and I remember visiting her there like it was yesterday. On the days I would watch her we would have wonderful adventures out and about. We would visit with my mother, go to the beach, go to the mall, etc. I swear she remembers everything we ever did...even things you think she could never remember. This past Saturday I took Olivia out to try and get some pictures of her for her 3rd birthday "portrait". While we were in the car she asked if my mother had any balloons at her house. I thought it was strange then after a while realized that a year ago when my mother bought her house there were balloons from a party she had had. How does a 3 year old remember something that happened when she was 2 and know to ask about it?? Then she talked about a lady that had three cats. I still don't remember who that is but I bet one day it will suddenly pop into my head.

You can see the rest of the photo shoot here.

May 9, 2007

New May pictures here

Here are some pictures Auntie Courtney took while she was watching M&J a couple weeks ago. That's Uncle Steve, Auntie's fiance.








These are some pictures from this morning during our new 6am "I'm not sleeping in my crib anymore" routine.




















Auntie came over today and helped me give the twins a bath. Madison managed to pee while in the bath AND after it while Auntie was holding her but before getting the all important diaper back on. We both thought she was safe since she had JUST gone in the bath!
Then she helped me take pictures out in the front yard. We got a lot of cute ones even though Madison was zonked after the bath. At least Jackson wasn't a cranky pants!

May 8, 2007

Tuesday is our weekly date with Michelle and Gianna (born two weeks after M&J). Today we went for a long walk in their neighborhood in Reading then came back and finally got some pictures of the three wee ones together.