Fun with Friends

Gwynnie is modeling her new Snuggie. We bought Dan's family all Snuggies for Christmas and didn't want Gwyn to feel left out.

Sebastien and Luke got messy from dinner at the O'Donnell's house so they took a BFF bath.
Grandpa Masse & Sebastien

Sebastien got to see Owen Mayotte on Monday, when Owen was up visiting NH with parents TJ & Jill. The last time Sebastien saw Owen, he was 9 months old. Now Owen is that age!

Christmas!

It's the day after Christmas and time for me to fill in the distant relatives with some info and pictures from our Christmas. We started Christmas Eve morning by seeing this huge woodpecker in our backyard. He was very fun to watch, and as you can see from his previous holes, he has a liking for this tree. Becca came over later and we decorated Christmas cookies. Then we went to 4pm Mass and had a Yankee swap at Dan's parent's house afterwards. Dan & I stayed up until midnight just relaxing afterwards and watching random strings of lights on our Christmas tree turn on and off (we still don't know why).

Christmas Morning! Sebastien models under the Christmas stockings.
Family pic before opening presents.

Below: Sebastien is not too thrilled to open his baby sister's presents.

Below: opening the rocket ship that Grammy & Grandpa Marty sent him.

...and riding it (even though the wheels aren't on yet).

Christmas afternoon: sledding

Marshmallow World

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas thanks to the snow storm we got this weekend. Sebastien got bundled up and had fun playing in the snow. Below are some pictures. He also had his 15 month checkup today and all is good. He's still 97% in height (33 in) but has dropped to 90% in weight (27lbs 4 oz), which I think is a good thing. He's definitely starting to thin out since he's been walking all over the place. We've been working on eating with a spoon, but it's hard since he needs a bath directly afterwards so there aren't too many opportune times to "learn." Mommy is also doing well and is at 27 weeks with baby girl. Dan & I decided we REALLY need to get our butts in gear and start getting ready for this baby! We did get a double stroller last weekend and have a crib ready to be picked up on Thursday. Both are used. Poor little girl. Already getting used items and her room will be more rushed than Sebastien's was. Oh well!

Below: Sebastien makes a lot of faces like this these days. We think he knows he's cute.

How Lovely Are Your Branches

Dan & I discovered that we don't know any of the words to "O Christmas Tree" except (we think) "How lovely are your branches." Kim, however, can sing it in German thanks to her days at CKS grade school, but still hasn't a clue of what that translates to. We discovered this bit of information this week because Sebastien had a high fever, which turned out to be an ear infection. Sometimes all he wanted to do was be rocked, sung to (hence the O Christmas Tree) and stare at our lighted tree. Now that he's healthy and back to normal, we miss the cuddle time but it's good to see our rambunctious little boy runing around again and causing mischief. Below are some pictures from last weekend.

Below: Dan & Sebastien in the Christmas tree field
Below: Sebastien thought the snow was great until his mitten fell of and his hand got covered in snow.

Kim & Sebastien with our tree

The finished product

The finished product again (using the flash).

VIDEO: Thanksgiving Laughs

Here is some cute video of Sebastien laughing at Thanksgiving. He's playing with his 3rd cousin, Lilly.

Gobble, Gobble

The three of us headed west to South Bend for Thanksgiving. Sebastien did pretty well sitting in Dan's lap for the 3 hr flight. Some of the highlights of our trip are pictured below. On Thanksgiving Day, there were 50+ Walsh relatives at Sue & Dave Walsh's house for Thanksgiving.

Below: Olivia and Christopher Lapinski & Sebastien play in the Szakaly's basement.

Grammy had all kinds of neat toys for Sebastien. He especially liked to lug around these little chairs.
Below: Sebastien with Aunt Cristin & Uncle Brian. Sebastien LOVED Aunt Cristin and cried when she left the room. (Monet can be seen too!)

Thanksgiving #2 was held at Tom & Hetty Cohen's on Saturday. Here Hetty helps Isaic and Sebastien on the rocking horse.

Isaic & Sebastien

Kim & Gina: preggos

The Szakaly family

Dan Turns 29!

In a rare turn of events, I am updating my blog mid weekend, which almost never happens. Usually I wait until I get back to work on Monday, but seeing as how I have the next week off (yeah!) and Sebastien slept over at Grandma & Grandpa's in Dracut, this morning was the perfect time. Here are some pictures from recent events. We went to visit the O'Donnell family on Wednesday night so that I could borrow some maternity clothes. (Yes, I am starting to actually need them.) Sebastien & Luke had fun staying up until 9:30 playing. They have a love/hate relationship. One second they are hugging and the next second they are hitting each other. It keeps their parents on their toes!

Below: Daddy snuck these pictures of Mommy & Sebastien playing on the slide yesterday. Sebastien would say "up" when he wanted mommy to put him on the slide.

Below: Last night. The birthday boy at his surprise group dinner.

Group shot from dinner. We went to Cobblestone's in Lowell, MA so Dan could have oysters. Kim surprised herself by eating an entire huge plate of prime rib. I think baby girl likes her red meat.

Definitely a girl

Dan & I had a 3D/4D ultrasound done on Saturday morning and are happy to say that baby #2 is definitely a girl. Kim liked the 3D ultrasounds, but Dan prefers the regular ones. Most 3D ultrasounds only really look good if the baby is well into the 3rd trimester, because otherwise the baby looks a bit skinny and frail, but that's what's normal at this stage (22 weeks) so that didn't bother me.

Here are some 3D pictures:

Below: Side view. The umbilical cord is looped right in front of her face, blocking a good profile shot.

Legs, and arms, and cord...oh my!

Below: face with her right arm lying over her body

Yawn!

Snuggly little girl

Below: foot propped up on knee

Below: 22 week belly

Below: Gwynnie's new hairdo...with bows! The new groomer said she is a challenge to groom though and requests I get a tranquilizer from the vet for next time. Poor Gwyn.

Below: video of the baby from the ultrasound. She moves more toward the end.

Everyday fall life...and a hike with cub scouts

It was another nice weekend here. Saturday was clear and chilly and Sunday was clear and warm. On Saturday Dan built new steps in the basement while Sebastien and I tried to rake some leaves. We didn't get very far before I got tired of raking three times, then chasing Sebastien, raking 3 more times, and geting Sebastien, over and over again. Oh well. I'm hoping to do a lot this week during my lunch breaks. Below is a picture of milk before bedtime. Sebastien has become a fan of making us read the same story over and over again to him. When we get near the end of the book he says "Ah-da! Ah-da!" which means "again! again!" (and it also means "all done" so you can see how confusing that becomes.)

Satruday morning he is bundled up while mommy rakes.
Sebastien headed for the stairs to the back porch. This is one of the reasons I had to keep chasing him. Gwynnie watches in amusement.

Falling asleep mid PB&J.

Sunday morning we went hiking with our friend Rick, his son, and a pack of cub scouts. Rick has a friend from work who invited us along. Below is a picture of how excited Sebastien was to go hiking. All we did was set his backpack carrier on the floor and Sebastien sat on top of it ready to go.

Below: Dan carrying Sebastien & Rick carrying Luke.

Not the best family picture, but the sun was really bright!

Later that night, Sebastien tries to walk Gwynnie. Mostly that means Gwynnie walks around and Sebastien follows holding the leash.

It's a.....GIRL!! (with a bit of uncertainty)

We had our 20 week (halfway) ultrasound today and baby is looking good. When it came down to determining the gender though, the baby's legs were crossed. The ultrasound tech and us could not see any distinct boy parts between the legs so we believe it to be a girl! Yeah! However, the ultrasound tech says we should save our receipts just in case. So my excitement over a girl is a bit surpressed because we can't be entirely sure. It's probably not a smart idea to paint the walls of the baby's room pink or purple, but I will use girly accents and save the packaging in case they need to be returned. The good news is, IF it turns out to be a boy, we have all of Sebastien's old clothes. Check out the pictures below. The first is a profile of the head. The second is the face from the front (although it looks like a scary skeleton head).