Holiday Memories

Okay, I'm a complete heel for not posting any pictures from Noelle's birthday. We didn't have anything decent and I keep forgetting to ask for some good ones. If/when I remember to ask Leo for some pics that he took that night I will update with a late birthday post.

Here are a few pictures from our first Christmas season as a foursome.

We are currently housebound with more snow than they originally predicted. There has to be a foot out there. Coming from Maine I wouldn't normally see that as a problem. But when we have to go to a website to see which roads the town intends to plow just to find a safe route to the grocery store, that makes things more challenging. They don't do ANY residential streets. It's pretty sad.

Noelle is enjoying herself, though. At the moment she is outside building snow castles with her sand bucket and shovel. She has been out there an hour and is on her second pair of mittens and a fresh hat.

I hope our Christmas cards made it out in time.
Merry Christmas everyone!!!

Noelle got this t-shirt as a gift for the holiday. Too funny!

Wardrobe change #2 for the Christmas photo. We didn't think any of the poses in these outfits were quite right. But we still had to show off our little reindeer!

We took the kids to see Santa at Redmond Town Center. Noelle had a nice long chat with the friendly elf. Gabriel had a nice snooze.

Gingerbread house making at the Adkinsons'. Noelle would put the candy on, admire it, pull it off and eat it and then add more. That's my girl!

John passed down that sage advice of old... "don't eat yellow snow". Incidentally, the snow is taller than Gizmo. Poor little dog!

First Thanksgiving

Gabriel celebrated his one week birthday on Thanksgiving - also his Papa's birthday. We are fortunate enough to have a friend who hosts Thanksgiving dinner every year, so I didn't have to cook. Our amazing contribution? Green beans - woo hoo! Noelle decided she is not a fan of sweet potatoes. Personally, I loved them!

Noelle had a great time playing with the dogs, Toby and Molly, at Kevin's house. She also tortured the adults with fifty million rounds of 'hide-and-seek'. Gabriel hung out with his new friend, Milo, who is only a couple of months older than he is.

Photo op. The outfit was actually too big for him to wear for the big day.

Our two Thanksgiving babies. Hmm... what would be the odds of having a third born in November? J/K!!!

Sriya holding Gabriel and Leo holding Milo. Play dates are more like nap times at the moment.

Our Newest Addition

Well, this isn't "new" news but hopefully I've chosen some pictures that you haven't seen yet.

Gabriel Joseph DeCuir was born on Thursday November 20, 2008 at 5:27pm. He weighed 9 lbs 2 oz and was almost 21 inches long. An ultrasound estimated his weight at almost 10 lbs. I went into the dr's office on the morning of the 20th and burst out crying. I wanted him out! It was my doctor's last day in the office, filling in for my original doctor (long story). She snagged us the last c-section scheduled for that day. And now here he is!

He had a little jaundice that has since cleared up. He lost a lot more weight than he should have and we're working on getting him back up to his birth weight. We've got about 3/4 of a pound to go. He is a champion eater so that shouldn't be a problem.

Gabriel is also a champion sleeper, giving us good solid three hour chunks - one of the perks of having a bigger baby, I guess. He is more and more alert every day and loves to stare into our eyes. He only cries when he's hungry. When he does cry Noelle jumps up and says "My baby needs me!"

Okay, gotta wrap up this post as it's almost time to feed him.
Enjoy the pictures!

The day of my baby shower, just a few days before Gabriel was born. Oh, my aching back! ;)

Gabriel at a few minutes old.

Noelle is totally in love with her new baby brother.

Gabriel at four days old.

Halloween '08

Halloween season started with a trip to visit Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. John just had to ask if she remembered working with his father on her movie. She says she did.

Late pregnancy aches and pains kept us from attending Kevin's annual Halloween party and pumpkin carving event. Luckily someone posted pictures so we got to see what we missed.

John took Noelle to work with him all day on Friday. She was an angel (behavior-wise, not her costume). She scored a ton of loot at Microsoft, trick or treating up and down the halls. The problem? Now that she's collected all that candy, she seems to have forgotten it's there. She sure doesn't ask for much. And - big shocker - I seem to have lost all interest in food. This stuff will be here until next Halloween!

Enjoy the pictures!

Okay, this struck me as funny. I call it the first picture of 'the kids' because my huge stomach is in the way of a perfectly good picture of Noelle. ;)

The DeCuir family meets the Mistress of the Dark.

I was trying to get John to take a picture of Gizmo in his pumpkin costume... but Noelle and Cleo insisted on being in the picture.

Catching a few zzz's before the afternoon festivities.

Our little astronaut got lots of compliments that day.

Noelle's First Field Trip

This is going to have to be a third-person perspective post, as I was not there today. People had warned me that the farm the preschool was going to was not exactly the best environment for someone in her third trimester. :(

Noelle has told me the highlights she'd like me to mention.

There was a pig in a pen as they walked in. She really liked this little guy. They had a huge sandbox themed area, but instead of sand it was filled with corn kernels. The kids had to take their shoes off to get in. Noelle did "corn angels". (Wonder if I'm going to find stray kernels at bathtime tonight...)

Among all the assorted farm animals one would expect, they also had kittens and puppies for the kids to play with. One little puppy kept going after the tassels on Noelle's sweater sleeve and trying to take her for a walk.

She said her favorite part of the whole trip was the hayride. She was excited that they kind of had to hunt for the pumpkins, looking under the leaves. The last place we visited that had pumpkins, they were all in huge piles and you just chose the one you wanted. This was much more authentic.

Thank you, John, for the awesome pics!

Noelle absolutely fell in love with this Bassett Hound and tried hard to catch him so she could pick him up. Good luck with that, honey.

This must have felt so cool under their little feet!

What is a farm without hay? Noelle and Lilly look like they are having a blast.

Two best friends enjoying an autumn hayride.

Yum! Creamsicles! Good thing the day finally warmed up.

These guys went easy on John and picked small pumpkins for him to carry back to the car. Aw, shucks! ;)