Thanksgiving in Lowell

After celebrating with our family in New York, we headed back to Massachusetts to celebrate with our family here. We call Monaghan Thanksgiving 'fake Thanksgiving' because we just do everything on Saturday instead of Thursday, which gives all of us a chance to celebrate twice!


Thanks to Judy for this cute little jumper- I have been waiting for Thanksgiving for her to wear it because it just seemed to fit the holiday.

We had a great time celebrating with everyone. Thanks to everyone who spent the day with us and those who stopped by in the evening just to see Mairead.

Unrelated story- I have to brag about my kid for a minute. The other day, Mairead found a crumpled up tissue on the living room floor. She walked over to it saying, "Yuck, yuck." She picked it up and carried it into the kitchen, still saying, "Yuck," where she then walked over to the trash barrel and put it in. She was so proud of herself-- how cute is that? Now, if only I could get her to do laundry...

New York Thanksgiving

To celebrate Thanksgiving, we headed to Grandma and Grandpa's house in New York. We were excited to spend time with everyone, especially since I cannot go back out there for quite some time. My doctor doesn't want me too far away! We had a good drive out there with Mairead sleeping the whole way. When we arrived, however, she thought it was time to get up and play, so she didn't go back to sleep until after 1 a.m.!

On Thanksgiving Day, we celebrated the holiday at Ryane, Dave, and Rachael's house. The girls (Ryane included!) had a great time playing. Rachael was great about sharing with Mairead and showing her how to use her toys. Mairead particularly liked Rachael's horses, and the girls had them all over the house.


On Friday, more family members were kind enough to come to an open house at Grandma and Grandpa's house so that we could all spend some time together. Everyone was very generous with their early Christmas gifts for Mairead, and even some gifts for Jack and Ben! We know we are so lucky to have a family who loves and supports us in so many ways. Thank you so much to everyone who came to visit!



Mairead loves her new toys- especially since they light up and make lots of fun sounds.



This one is from Thanksgiving night-- can you tell that the girls were ready for bed after a big turkey dinner? We all were!

This is one of my favorites from the weekend. It was great to see Mairead and Rachael spending time together and having so much fun.

There are many more pictures of our NY trip in the slideshow to the right of this post. Again, thanks to everyone who helped make it a great trip. We will be back to visit after Jack and Ben make their debut!

Catching Up...

I know, I know, I have been slacking on the blog! We did a lot of traveling and have had a very busy week, so I have lots of pictures to post of our two Thanksgivings, the Open House in NY, our visit from my grad school friends, and our ultrasound today. I will have plenty of time for updates now, though, since Tuesday was my last day at work. It was bittersweet, and I definitely shed some tears while driving out of the parking lot, but I know that the best thing I can do for the boys is to stay home and rest. So, that is what I will do!

Speaking of the boys, we had another ultrasound today and everything looks great! The boys are both growing well and the perinatologist doesn't see anything to be concerned about right now. We were very happy to hear that! Also, our boys now have names! Baby A is now Jack David, and Baby B is now Benjamin Brian (Ben). It's nice to refer to them by name.

These are some of the 3D images from the ultrasound. I know that some people are a little creeped out by these, but we are just amazed by them. These pictures are a little hard to make out, but the first one is of one little tiny foot. In the second one, you can see three of their four little feet. Ben's feet are crossed at the ankles, so you can only see one.

What was really cute was when the technician was measuring Jack, all of a sudden, Ben's little head poked into the picture. He rested his head on Jack's chest and they cuddled for a second. It was truly amazing to see. I'm glad they are getting along!

Ben is the bigger boy at 15 ounces, while Jack is not far behind at 13 ounces. Both weights are well within healthy parameters, so we are thrilled.

Backing up a bit, last Monday we had visitors and new friends for Mairead! Several of my friends from grad school came over since Megan (who now lives in California) was back in New England for a visit. Mairead had a chance to hang out with Will, whom she has known, literally, since before they were born. Megan and I were pregnant at the same time in our second year of our Master's program. Mairead is 3 weeks older than Will, and they have a lot in common!

Also visiting were Domenic and Ainsley, 18 months and 3years. The kids were so much fun to watch and they all got along really well! I was proud of Mairead for sharing her house and her toys with other kids.

She IS, however, quite a little sippy cup thief, as she always seems to end up with someone else's drink.

Mairead and Will were both happy to share some pizza.

I don't think they can call this a date, but they did have dinner together (sorry, Connor)!

It was great to see everyone- thanks to Megan, Jill, Amy, Lisa, and Caitlin for coming to visit! I will be posting our NY pictures and our Lowell Thanksgiving pictures soon!