
- Happy Baby!
It took a month, but I finally caught Freedom’s melt-your-heart smile on camera. He’s 2 months old now and quite the flirt when he chooses to be. Currently he’s not in a very smiley mood, having caught at last his first real cold. I’m just grateful he didn’t catch the one the kids had last month. This round of sickness doesn’t seem to be as bad… Although -of course- a mommy is never truly happy about her baby being sick. I hope he gets better SOON! And the other kids, too, of course.

- Such a smiler
Thanksgiving was great — More to come about that when I get the pictures from my mom. The highlight for me was introducing my Grandpa to his namesake. So, so glad they could come down this year. We started a new tradition at Zannie’s — Gingerbread houses after dessert. Fun stuff. My sister’s football stadium was amazing, as was her friends’ windmill. Yes, it even turned. But as I said, more to come when I’ve got the pictures to go with it.

Our House in graham crackers + frosting
My “Black Friday” shopping experience deserves its own post, too, as does my amazing hubby and everything he’s done the last 2 ydays. We even have lights outside this year. I’m still in shock.

Lights outside!
Remember the sister-in-law I mentioned and how she was preggy with twins? Well, they came on Friday — and yesterday I got to see them! Little 5lb bundles of healthy, priceless, pink specialness. They named the boy Seth and the girl Sierra. They’re beautiful and they’re all doing well. Sierra is having help keeping her lungs inflated, but she’s not getting any extra oxygen any more and so far so good! Seth has been a trooper from the get-go and hasn’t ever needed help in the respiratory dep’t.
As luck would have it, I just happened to come for the first time Alene & Carl were able to hold Sierra…

- Healthy Babies! Yay!
And when they were done, I got to hold her too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What an amazing experience. She was so light I almost couldn’t tell I was actually holding a baby. (Compared to Freedom’s 14 lbs of chub, these babies are in a different club altogether.) There is nothing in the whole wide world like a newborn baby… and they have two of them!
Every time I think about them arriving safe and sound, I get that grateful-to-the-core feeling. The kind that brings tears if you dwell on it. The kind that makes you smile all the time any time. The kind life would be meaningless without.
I’m sure you know what I mean.
Hope you all had a happy, grateful-to-the-core Thanksgiving, too!
Yay for the twinners!! Did black friday shopping put her into labor?
5 lbs is fantastic!! How did yours go (shopping, not labor)? I made out okay, though I only got out the door at 5:45am. Pathetic, I know. I hear 4:30am was too late to get the $3 track suits at Wal Mart.
I find it funny that you don’t mind sharing your nephew and niece’s names when I can’t even remember your own kids real names anymore because I think of them as Cinderella and co. And wait – Alene Smith??? I think I was in Chamber Singers with her at Palomar – is that true? I was thinking wow, she really looks like Alene Smith, then I realized – hey, that’s her name! Maybe it is she!
Freedom is darling and the twins–love it! Glad you had a great Thanksgiving!
Love the smile, and look forward to the promised future posts.
Elizabeth — that’s the same Alene.
What a festive looking house! How fun! I wish we could figure out how to rig some outside lights. I have a tree outside that’s just begging for them, but alas, no power. Sigh. Someday! Oh, and I am so in love with Freedom’s smile. I just wanna eat him up!
Aren’t smiley little babies the BEST? I love that top picture of him, it’s adorable! The lights on your house look great! I wish we had them on our house!