Our greatest suprise of 2007!

I believe the word is out......we are going to add one more member to our already crazy family! Todd and I have been "negotiating" this concept for awhile.....weighing the desire to have another child with the complications that pregnancy seems to bring for me (two premature babies, bed rest with 16 collective trips to the hospital, NICU stays and the works). Then suddenly, the decision was out of our hands as I discovered I was pregnant. This was about three months ago and right around the time of Todd's 40th birthday. Happy birthday honey!!! At this point. all is well and I'm skating along. We've had an ultrascreen (the latest version of an ameoscentis) which confirmed that this is a healthy baby thus far (no chromosomal abnormalities like downs syndrome or cystic fibrosis). The week after christmas, I'll begin weekly injections of a type of progesterone that has shown remarkable success in curbing pre-term labor. We are keeping the fingers crossed that this might be our answer to a full-term baby!

The ultrascreen nurse, who has been doing these for over 20 years, asked me if I would like her guess on gender. Of course I indulged! According to her, there is nothing "growing" between the legs and she was confident this is a girl. We have no expectations at this point and are just hoping to make it to the 9th month in tact! Here's a peek at the 2.5 inch little one. This is a profile picture of her torso (on the left) and her head looking up (on the right). You can see the tip of the nose. I marvel at the perfection these little bodies can have after only a few months of development......

Thanksgiving Day Traditions

Since the days of my early childhood, it has been a family tradition of ours to cook our thanksgiving day turkey in my dad's "deep pit BBQ". This is a 10 ft. hole in the ground, lined with fire brick, that - with the help of 3 feet of coals and a sealed opening - creates the moistest turkey you can imagine....so moist it literally falls off the bones. My parents have lived in three houses over the last 31 years and I believe my dad was more concerned about building the pit than the house! Every year we have invited family friends and colleagues to participate......and each year the numbers have grown. This year we put in 47 sets of meat (varying from turkey to pork tenderloin to beef roasts). I believe the record is 53! I don't know what thanksgiving would be like without this event.........but it certainly wouldn't be the same without the collective celebration of our family and friends. I'm so happy for my children to begin anticipating this event....