Happy New Year!

As 2007 draws to a close most of us sit around thinking of some ridiculous New Year's Resolution that we'll abandon in a few weeks. In the past I have always tried to think optimistically about some facet of my life I could improve, and Keith by proxy would be forced into the same resolution. This year we're older and wiser, and we are going to use that wisdom to avoid repeating a few things we did in '07:

Keith: We will not be signing up for another half-marathon. Not even after Trudi has a glass of wine at a party & someone convinces her it's a great idea, or after Trudi runs a half-marathon with someone else and then talks me into it because she thinks me running with her will improve her race time. It backfired on her, FYI, our race time in the VA Beach Half Marathon was pretty crappy. In my defense, the UGA/Oklahoma State game was on the night before, and who can watch a game without having a drink or two?
Disclaimer: Trudi is pretty good at getting her way. If, by any chance she gives me the pouting puppydog face and does talk me into the Thanksgiving day half marathon, then we'll never speak of this resolution again.

Trudi: No more house projects. If there is one thing worse than a grumpy Keith, it's the guy I like to call Project Keith. Project Keith did a great job in the kitchen and bathrooms, but he's bossy and demanding, and if anyone is going to be like that it our house, it's me.

Cole & Grady: No more sleepfilled nights, relaxing weekend mornings reading the paper, or spontaneous date nights for our parents. Good times.

Happy New Year everyone! My first post of '08 will have new ultrasound pics and a belly shot of Karen. I'm heading up see Karen and family on Wednesday, you'll hear from me when we hit 30 weeks on Friday.

29

It really feels like yesterday that I wrote about the 28 week mark, and here we are again, another week down. In the past, I've tried to think of something clever to say about the boys' development stage and what fruit/vegetable they are resembling or weighing as much as, but all that comes to mind today is "Holy sh*t, it's really happening, we're having kids".

Yes, some days its still a bit of a shock that the whole process worked and we'll get to have kids.

And soon.

Who's a big girl?

Keith and I are slowly being introduced to the baby/children world. Karen, my beloved sister and babygrower, and her husband have three kids, so every few months we get to see Rhett, Sara or the Greggers for a birthday, a random holiday or a quick visit at my parents house. We love these visits, but they never feel long enough. So while we feel like we get lots of family baby (and yes, these three will be "the babies" for forever to me, even when they are old and married) time, it's never enough.

Well, lucky for us our good, no, great friends Justin and Tracy brought a little partier into the world last New Year's Eve-Ms. Piper Anne! This little family is but a 5 minute drive from us, so Keith and I have been fortunate to see Piper grow from a little slobbering mess (I mean that in the nicest way) to the adorable ball of happiness she is now. She's not quite had her first birthday, (soon enough, right Tracy?), but she had her first party this past weekend. It was a blast! In true Trudi style, here are some pictures with my thoughts:

Above. It's the birthday girl! She looks semi-happy-sceptical/weary here, and that's pretty much how she looks when she sees Keith. We're all just happy she stopped screaming her head off when she saw him. You'd think she'd love a fellow redhead, but no. Here is Piper with cousin Logan. She's currently trying to decide if she should cry or smile-and she ended up by smiling and pointing at Keith. Either the benevolent Piper gave Keith a pass for the day, or the two of them had a breakthrough and can now coexist. We'll see.

Cake face. It's not a 1st birthday party without cake-face picture. Busted, Piper Anne!

Birthday girl got to sit with her Papi to go a spin while the rest of us slaved away at pulling the parachute along. I don't want to point any fingers, but I don't think the 4 year old walking in front me was pulling his weight...I'm just saying... Does anyone else think of Dr. Seuss' Oh, The Places You'll Go book when they see this? Now any other dad would sit there clutching their child, but what does Justin do? Props her up on his legs, naturally. What else would a dad do?











Now, you childless folks are looking at this and you're thinking, "holy sh*t, Trudi and Keith have crossed over to the other side because birthday parties are only fun for kids, not for adults". For some people maybe, but we're fairly easily entertained, and here is a picture to prove Keith had a good time.

Yep, that's my husband. Good times.

Happy Birthday, Piper! We wish you many, many more and we hope we are there to celebrate each one of the next 17 or so right along side your mom and dad.

28 already

Technically, 28 weeks and 3 days, since today is Sunday already. Where did the time go?

At the 28 week mark the boys are about the weight of a Chinese cabbage. All I can think of are those big-headed Cabbage Patch dolls, so here is a picture of what I imagine they look like, except maybe with red hair.


More later, right now I have to prepare the house for our impending holiday guests.

Once upon a time...

(Us, we're so cute)

Years ago, Keith and his roommates (originally just Keith and his roommate Rusty, then the following year Matt and Nate) hosted a raging party that later became known as the Hewitt Christmas party. It was good times- a bunch of {mostly} single folks, getting together. Most people knew each other from work (Hewitt), so the party was a chance to let the hair down and relax. And relax they did-some wore cowboy shirts, others passed out in chairs, some wore Jaguar jerseys two sizes too small because of a bet, others ogled girls with low-cut shirts. Like I said, it was good times. NOTE: I have pictures to prove all of the above, and am not afraid to put anyone to shame if need be.







(The Roddas, Wistricks)

Fast forward 7 or so years, and the party is significantly tamer. A core group of now-married or almost married (and Pate and Kate, the token anti-establishment couple) couples came, and it was still good times. But, perhaps our definition of "good times" has changed. If by good times, you mean a good meal, a glass of wine and some boardgames, then Whoot!Whoot!, we had good times. A few years ago we would all have laughed at ourselves when we were all stifling yawns at 10:15PM, but I guess this is what happens when we get older. Keith and I love hosting a get-together for two reasons 1) we really enjoy getting the house ready for a party-and despite his objections, I really think Keith likes being given a long list of "to-do" items before a party, and 2)no driving home, just stumble towards bed.

I've forgotten the most important part of the party- the White Elephant, or more appropriately, the Dirty Santa game. The object is to think of the most useless/raunchy/funny/drinkable present, bring it to the party, and fight over who gets to take it home. I personally think this year was one of the best in terms of gifts. As I've mentioned above, I like to document everything with pictures, so here are some of my favorite pictures from this year's party, with comments:

• Pete LOVES the "Thumbs Up". And he's good at it. Even the double Thumbs-Up doesn't faze him.
  

• Daniel. First picture shows Daniel drawing his number for the Dirty Santa game. Notice how genuinely happy he appears in the first picture, and then how his expression changes to "*#^*!, a fruitcake??" in the second picture once he opens his fabulous fruitcake gift. You can always use it as a paperweight, Daniel.
• 

• Poo. I'm not sure how I became so intimately involved with a spouse and friends who embrace the subject of poo, but it happened. One of the funnier gifts opened was the "What your poo is telling you" book. I first thought Keith would be stuck with it, but thankfully (and disturbingly?) Melissa stole it from him. Eagerly stole it from him, I should say.
• 
• Footie pajamas-who doesn't miss them? Pete won't be missing them anymore, thanks to this year's Christmas party. Notice how effortlessly Kate stepped in to help him. Some might say that it's her medical school training, others might say she has to help Pete get dressed all the time. Who's to know?
• Keith stole this present (a Sex-Every Day in Every Way calendar) from Sharon. Thanks a lot to the person who brought this present to the game, Keith ended up with it at the end of the night. After I finish this blog entry I'll have to sit and think of other excuses besides "I have a headache" and "The dogs really want to get in bed with us now".
• Our friend Chris is a lawyer, and everytime I see him, I can't help but think of the plot of the newest John Grisham law-related novel. Doesn't he look like he's discussing tort reform in GA?
• And finally, for the 7th or so year in a row, the Hamburgler strikes again! This present has been in circulation since the original Christmas party and this year Mike was the one to have to fake being excited about getting it. He does an impressive job of looking excited when we all know he's thinking "there is no way my wife will let me hang this on our Christmas tree". Hold on to 'Burglar, Mike, we expect to see it next year.

NOTE TO THE INGRAHAMS: We'll let you get by this year since your second son is due any day now, but next year we expect to see the Jones Soda back in circulation! We missed you this year.

That's it for now from me. Thanks to everyone that made it to the party, we loved getting to catch up with everyone! Next year in lieau of a Christmas party, we'll let each couple babysit the twins for a night. HAHA, just kidding. Kinda...

Come to think of it, we'll probably re-gift the Sex calendar, along with some editorial notes on what works and what does not, and a safety helmit, 'cause it appears most of the suggestions given in the calendar will be needing some safety gear.

Whoa, I'm late with this post

I know, I know, I didn't post on Friday. I thought I'd keep you waiting to build the suspense a bit.

We made it to 27 weeks! Babycenter sent us our weekly update and according to them, the boys should each be about 2lbs, the weight of a head of cauliflower. I don't think that is exactly accurate, since that is what the boys' estimated weight was 3 weeks ago. I'm thinking that maybe Karen is growing us two little linebackers. I have to admit that I chuckled when I read the first line of our Week 27 email: Your baby is really starting to get big. I could almost hear Karen say "Yeah, no sh*t, my belly is pretty big."

Despite her continuously growing belly, Karen is still doing great. She's a little more tired in the evenings and she said she's been putting her feet up at night after she gets her kids to bed, and I've noticed she sounds a little more out of breath when we talk on the phone, but I can't tell if it's because of the twins or her own three kids running around. Probably both. The craziest thing is that other than her belly, she still doesn't look pregnant at all, she looks great!

It gets stranger by the week.

Last week when we hit 25 weeks the weekly fruit the boys resembled was a rutabaga-a fairly obscure produce item, I think we can all agree. This week tops rutabaga by far-the boys are now the lenght of English Hothouse cucumbers. Long, long cucumbers. I'm sure I've seen these before, I just never knew the name. But anyways, we're at 26 weeks, and the boys are about 14 inches long. Which means they're approaching half the height of the average Bothma male, right?

Just kidding, Dad.

C'mon Christmas, the Ellermans are getting ready.

We spend much of this weekend getting the house Christmas-ready. That's right, that means we are about to hang as many white lights on the outside as our house can weight-bear. If you live in or near Avondale Estates and your power flickers in and out each night just after dark, that would be Keith plugging in our lights. The man loves him some outdoor lights. My territory is inside the house- and this year I decided if it doesn't move, it's getting decorated with garland, ribbon or both. 'Tis the season, baby!

Keith is also practicing pretending to be Santa, but has put in a request that Grady & Cole leave Santa cookies & beer (instead of cookies & milk) in the future. I predict at some point I'll have to explain this to the boys' teacher, but I'm OK with that.


Here we are. Notice how Keith is wearing the Santa hat to prepare for his future role as Santa. Practice, he says.