Santa or Scrooge?

I love Christmas, really I do. I absolutely love looking at our gorgeous Christmas tree when it is quiet at night, and listening to Christmas carols and all of the parties and goodies. And it is so much more magical with a kid! Mia is asking more about Christmas and Santa and presents this year and she helped (sort of) with the tree. Christmas morning is so special when you have a small child.

But I just keep wavering back and forth between the "I love this time of year" and "Ugh, I have so much to do and I'm just tired and achy and why won't Amelia nap and I'm never gonna get all of this stuff ordered and why doesn't this have free shipping?? etc., etc., etc...., BAH HUMBUG!"
Usually I adopt the second attitude at around 10pm when I'm ready for bed but feeling overwhelmed with what I need to do.

I'm trying to tell myself that it will all get done and that I need to relax. And when I see this little face light up at the sight of our tree or lights in the neighborhood, it really does make me feel all merry inside. Lets hope the feeling lasts a few more weeks!

Hope your December is going well and you have found some time to enjoy the season!

It's Beginning to Look A Little Like....

Teriffic Turkey Day

We had a fantastic visit with the family in Louisville. Mia and Gabriel and Norah enjoyed each other immensely and we just had some relaxing, nice family time. The kids were so funny together, and surprised us with an entertaining version of "The Ants Go Marching" after Thanksgiving dinner. It consisted of them marching around the house shirtless, with various hats/capes on. Little Mia bringing up the rear was hysterical :)

The food was amazing as always and this new baby girl is a huge fan of the cranberry, poppyseed bread, and butterscotch bars that were new additions to the dessert table this year! I may not be such a big fan next spring when I'm struggling to lose baby weight, but hey, it's the holidays!! Christmas, here we come!!

The Girls :) Norah takes after her Aunt Sarah. I also love the "tongue out" pose!

Goofing of with G :)

I'm Thankful For...

Thanksgiving is here! We are very excited to be travelling to Katie and Maz's in Louisville this year to see the McB's and cousins! Mia has been talking on the phone with Gabriel and Norah and they are planning all sorts of fun things to do together, I'm sure :)

I love this holiday and spending time with family and of course the delicious food. We also have so much to be thankful for and here are just a few:

• Our funny, fantastic, feisty little daughter Amelia. She makes us laugh so much everyday. Lately she likes to pretend she is a cat. She wants to sleep on the top of the couch cushion like Elliot, so she says "meow" and then attempts this feat. Usually we discourage it, but it is pretty funny to watch.
• Our bouncy, beautiful, growing baby girl (24 weeks along today!) that we will meet in March. Favorite names of the moment are Elena and Abigail. I'm such a fan of nicknames, and besides being a lovely name, Elena is full of potential! Ellie, Elle, Laney, Lane!! Love them all :)
• Our health, home and security. Especially in this day and age, we are very fortunate to have stability, good medical care and a great home. I am guilty of complaining about small things that bother me (loud neighbors, co-payments, Sean traveling) but I know that we are very lucky and I remind myself to be grateful for all of these things.
• You! Our friends and family who provide us with so much. Fun outings, support, advice and love. Yes, I'm pregnant and tend to get overly mushy sometimes, but I really mean it. Thank you all :)

Have a wonderful Turkey Day!!

Beautiful Braid

When I picked Amelia up from school yesterday, her hair looked like this. She barely lets me touch her hair, but she sat on Miss Kelly's lap (after a minor playground incident left her slightly upset) and let her play with her hair and do this super cute french braid. Back in the day I used to know how to do this on horses tails, but I really need to practice. Let's hope she lets me!

Have a great weekend everyone!

The Never Ending November Nor'Easter

Last week was kind of crazy in the McBride household. We had a 3 day long storm that left us without power, minor roof damage, and lots of yard debris. Luckily we don't have a basement but everyone on the street with one had 2 feet of water in theirs! This storm was almost as bad as Hurricane Isabel back in 2003 (?) and Norfolk really seemed to get the brunt of it.

Thank goodness for good friends and neighbors for checking in on us and letting us take advantage of their electricity for a while. I love the street that we live on! One night everyone brought over some food (to avoid having to toss it all out) and we had a potluck dinner at a neighbors. It was nice to share the sense that we were all in it together.

Anyway, this week we are getting back to normal even though I still feel kind of soggy and windblown! Check out some photos of the huge trees that fell down a few blocks from our house.

This poor car! Apparently the owner had just moved here, ugh!

Our neighborhood lost several of these huge oak trees.

Finally getting out for a walk to see the damage

A Beautiful Fall Day

Yesterday we went canoeing at a beautiful park in Chesapeake with our buddies the Conleys. We were a tad hesitant, given the fact that we have some very active 2-year olds and a slightly off-balance pregnant lady, but it turned out great! What a nice way to spend a lovely fall day!

Pictures of the Girls

Below are a few new photos of my girls :)

I got a DVD of my ultrasound with little Ellie/Abby/Samantha/Maggie/To be determined ???? and I'm trying to figure out how to capture a still photo from it. In the meantime, here are a few photos of photos that they gave us:)

Her feet! Apparently they are long!

Her sweet little profile

Mia got her first set of school photos and they are so adorable! If you'd like to see them online, go to http://www.rgregoryphoto.com/, click on "session proofing" and type in west ghent for the ID. She's in the first row on page 11. Otherwise, I'll be ordering plenty and will be sure to send one to grandparents and friends :)

Here she is just being a cutie as usual.

Girls Rule!

I just wanted to write a quick post to announce (although you already know!) that we are having another little girl!! We had a great ultrasound last week and she's healthy and beautiful and we are so thrilled!

I have always envied the sisters that I see playing and chatting and being each other's best friends. I hope so much for my girls that they share a deep sisterly bond like that. My GIRLS! I love it :) Poor Sean will be very outnumbered, but I think he can handle it!

We all love you little girl and can't wait to meet you in March!

Photos soon!

Halloween Fun

Mia got a kick out of Halloween this year! She had a party at school, a party with her playgroup, and a blast trick-or-treating on our block. I thought she'd be shy, but she marched right up to people's porches and said "Trickertreat!" and "Gank You" like she'd been doing it for years!

Some photos are below but I think I need to sign up for a photography class. My photos are getting worse and worse. I usually miss the cute moment and end up with the shot of people's eyes closed or moving away from the camera. Maybe I should blame Amelia for changing the settings every time she gets a hold of my camera! I'll work on it, I promise!

Hope you had a monstrously good Halloween!

Weekend Getaway

Last weekend we went to Luray, Virginia, just outside of the Shenandoah National Forest, and Skyline Drive for a fun fall weekend getaway. We had visions of crisp, sunny days, pumpkin patches and corn mazes in our heads as we drove through gorgeous mountain towns and horse country on the way there.

The weather did not totally cooperate (it was in the 30's when we got there and only got to about 49 the entire weekend) but we had a great trip. We hiked (in snow one day!), stayed in an adorable cabin, ate yummy homemade breads and pies, and explored the area.

One night it rained pretty heavily, and at about 3am we heard a loud rustling noise that sounded like it was directly under our bed. It lasted for several hours and I was starting to worry about bears coming in to get our food. Turns out it was likely a family of raccoons taking refuge under our cabin. Nature!

I have lots and lots of photos and I'll put them on the photo album site soon. Here are just a few. I hope to make this an annual trip. I love it up there!

This was one of the few breaks in the clouds. Leaves were almost at peak in some places in the park. Gorgeous!

We did a little hiking on the Appalachian Trail. This is the trail marker.

The snow!

We went to a pumpkin patch, corn maze, petting zoo. It was so cold that we only stayed long enough to feed this goat.

Mia was the tour guide at Luray Caverns. A very impressive cave system and we got there when it opened on Sunday morning and had the whole place to ourselves!

Group shot.

Obligatory self portrait at beginning of hike to waterfalls.

Cuties!Our cabin

Unrelated to the trip, but just a cute recent photo

Mia and her pumpkins

What's new?

Hi! We've been busy living our lives lately and enjoying this great time of year. Mia seems to really like her school! She comes home singing "Gray Squirrel" (a song that I am not familiar with) and talking about her favorite teacher "Miss Kelly". She has her first picture day on Thursday and I'm soooo excited about it! She also has a Halloween party and parade in a few weeks! Stay tuned for what are sure to be the cutest pictures ever!

Sean has been super busy at work and at home. He is painting the attic and re-doing it so that it will be a nicer guest room at some point. He is also now a skilled tree-surgeon as he spent last weekend with a chainsaw and other tree trimming tools to take care of some of our overgrown trees.

I'm enjoying my bit of free time and watching my 2 year old grow up! McBaby2 is doing well too and we hope to find out what we are having on October 30! I have absolutely no intuition this time, and last time I was convinced we were having a boy, so I don't think I would trust it anyway. I feel basically the same as I did during my first pregnancy, although perhaps a bit more tired by the end of the day.

We go to the Shenandoah Valley in NW Va next weekend for a few days. I'm so excited to see the leaves, drive on Skyline Drive, stay in a cabin and eat pumpkin bread and drink apple cider! Oh, we want to go on some hikes and see Luray Caverns too!

We hope everyone is well! Below are a few photos from the past few weeks.

Sleepy girl after school.
Cheesing it up on the way to the Pumpkin Patch!

I LOVE getting her artwork from school! And I found some magnets that stick to stainless steel! Yay!!!

Riding Ben's car at bday party. She loved this toy!