Five-year aniversary

This year marked the end of five years spent being pregnant and/or having babies so, thanks to my great in-laws, who babysat all weekend, Josh and I got to spend three days in Charleston.

It was awesome... the weather was great, the food was good and we enjoyed every aspect of it. thanks again, G and Grandpap.

This was our place, called the King George Inn, and it was perfect. I highly recommend it to anyone.

We ate here Friday night for dinner. There was a live jazz band, great wine and not a highchair in sight!
























Saturday we went for a carriage ride.. here is our driver Rebel and horse, Brock






































Some shots from Saturday night dinner

On Sunday we returned to the scene of the crime and took a walk down to the battery, where Josh proposed to me.

New pictures

It's been a while I know and it seems the Shutterfly video slideshow doesn't exactly work well so I am back to posting the old-fashioned way...

I'd like to say I have a ton of pictures to post but, the truth is, I don't... I have been so busy with weddings/engagements, etc. that this is really the only weekend time I have spent with my kids lately :( But, things are starting to slow down and with the holidays I hope to have more and more posts...
Here is a few shots of our latest pumpkin patch adventure.

Pictures from Nikki

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Three months

Here is an attempt at the girls' three-month photos. They aren't great and there aren't many of them. I originally thought I would try to do them again but of course never got around to it... Oh well:) Stay tuned for more photos from vacation:)

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Pictures from Nikki

We've been up to alot lately. Here are some pics from our latest adventures. Picnic at Suwanee Town Park, Visiting Ink with our friends the Hammocks, Seeing Curious George at the Discovery Museum and lunch at Coolidge Park on Labor Day

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It's already been two months!

The girls will be eight week sold this Friday and I know I am behind on the posts. Turns out I don't have as much time on my hands these days... crazy, huh? Everyone is great.. the girls are growing like crazy and gaining weight. We are looking forward to the days when they go longer than three hours between meals but they haven't slowed down yet....

Everyone wants to know how I do it and it turns out there is only one necessity you need with twins..... grandmothers!! My mom and Josh's mom have been with us every week since the girls have been born and I feel so lucky! Eli goes to school 2 days a week also so there are days when it is just us and the girls. Annabel and Harper are staying awake more these days so it is becoming a bit of a challenge to keep them entertained but most of our days are still spent feeding and keeping Eli from going crazy.

This picture is for Aunt Christy who bought these cute dresses for the girls!


















The girls are just now beginning to learn how smile socially and this morning I happened to catch a few little ones on camera... of course the ones beore I got the camera out were better but you know how that goes. I'll let everyone guess which one is which

The new Puckett family

This is very late but.... the girls are here!!! They are a week-old now and doing great! Most everyone know the details but...

Annabel June Puckett
born June 19, 2009
6 lbs. 6 oz.s
20 inches

Harper Naomi Puckett
born June 19, 2009
6 lbs. 5 ozs.
19.5 inches

Everyone is doing great! I have spent nine months with alot of worrying but now that they are here and healthy all I can feel is blessed for my beautiful family and for the support of friends and family. Thank you to everyone for nine months of love.

The longest four days ever....

To update all my close friends and family, at my doctor's appointment today we discovered while last Thursday both of the girls were head down and in position to be born, TODAY Harper decided she wasn't comfortable so she flipped breech ( or oblique, or something...)

Anyway, I am now scheduled for a C-section on Friday afternoon and am trying to find a way to fill the days until then.. I bore very easily so, although I am trying to just relax and enjoy the peace, it's proven difficult. There are only so many Jon and Kate Plus Eight reruns you can watch.

Next post will hopefully contain pics of my beautiful girls!!

Down to business post.

It's time for a medical update so, here is a boring run down... no pictures:)

I am now going to the doctor like every three or four days so I won't update every time unless there is something new. Last week at the ultrasound we did, which was likely to be the last weight check, the girls weighed 5lbs 6 oz a piece. In two days I will be officially 36 weeks and so I am set to go into labor at any time.

This morning I was over 1 cm dialated so we are just waiting now.... The doctor did reassure me that she will not make me go more than 38 weeks so that's just over two weeks at the longest. I can't wait to see my girls and give them kisses!!!

Thanks to all my family, especially Aunt Christy this weekend, the house is clean, the girls room is ready, the van is bought and the car seats ready, bags are packed and by the door, there is food in my pantry and freezer it is go time at any moment.

I feel anxious and nervous and really really weepy so f you talk to me in the next weeks and I burst into tears.. just ignore me and the hormones. Any relaxation tips? I feel like I am so nervous I can't enjoy the next weeks.... Any helpful advice?

A changing point in my life....

I now own a minivan.

The biggest news from the weekend was our "shopping" trip to the dealership that turned into a rather large purchase. We knew we were going to buy one in the next year so I had been researching my options and narrowed it down to two types of vans. We planned to buy maybe this fall or even next February.... That of course changed when my plan to fit all three car seats in the back of my Matrix backfired. They all fit but it looked ridiculous and like a safety hazard.

On Saturday when Josh and Burt installed them, I took one look and tears came to my eyes.... no way could I let my children ride around in that... so off we went to test drive and.... voila.. came home in alot more debt:)

But, I love the van. It was just what I wanted and I feel so much better about the years to come with our family.

Here are the pics:

The 2006 Toyota Sienna: the color is called magnesium but it's more like metallic navy






























Here is Josh installing my car seats into the van. My "nesting" instinct is insisting everything be done immediately:)
















My sister-in-law was gracious enough to buy us the second carseat. She really wanted them to match but we didn't want to have to buy two new carseats and Graco doesn't make Eli's anymore so she joined with my mom who, believe it or not, handmade two matching car seat covers for the girls... Don't they look great:)

Weekend fun

Just a short post with pics about the weekend. Burt and Christy came into town and bought Eli a slip n slide. He is still a little timid about it but we plan to work on it. Here are the pics:

The room awaits...

This weekend with my mom's help we put the finishing touches on the girls room.





































Our older house has been blessed with one thing: Big bedrooms and lots of closets so the in the babies room we do have room for a futon ....























.... and we have two closets (although all their clothes are in one right now... I am allowing for "room to grow":)























The girls do have their first dolls already... Josh bought them both Cabbage Patch Preemies and picked them out straight from Babyland General in Cleveland. I love them!!












My friend Christine painted this for the girls' room... She painted a picture of a giraffe for Eli's room so I asked for one for the girls' too.























Josh and I only purchased the futon for this room so everything else was a gift.. How blessed are we??? Thanks to everyone who helped make Annabel and Harper's room perfect!

34 weeks and counting.....

Baby update: Not much going on with the Pucketts that doesn't include preparation for the girls' arrival! Here is our latest news:

Tomorrow I will be 34 weeks... last week at the doctor I had a great visit! the girls were really active and healthy.. they both were doing their practice breathing (which is a good sign apparently) and weighed in at 4lbs 9 oz. (Annabel) and 4 lbs. 6 oz. ( Harper), which for the moms out there is in the 69% and 62% percentiles:) They are both currently breech and the odds of them turning are not great so that may mean a C-section for me but I will keep everyone updated.

Here are the ultrasounds:

























The doctor and the technicians were very impressed that I am not on bedrest and still working, which I am very thankful for. I am starting to feel worse and worse so I don't know how much longer I can impress them but... Here I am at 34 weeks.. My next appoinment won't be until next week so stay tuned:)

Mom of the year

As you can imagine, at 32 weeks it's a little difficult for me to get around and to get anything done at my house. Josh is a great help but because of his work schedule sometimes he isn't home in the morning or in the evening. This week was one of those weeks so my mom offered to come stay with me and help me out with Eli.

I'll begin by saying my mom does not sit still... She constantly has to be doing something (a trait I didn't inherit) so she continually is helping me including rearranging cabinets, making drapes, etc. So, I could never thank her for everything she has done for me but I wanted to post yesterday's events to give an example of her generous nature.

When I got home from work yesterday, my mom had washed my couch and its cushions (They are all slipcovered), shampooed my living room rug and cleaned my refrigerator (not emptied it but literally scrubbed it clean). All of this on top of keeping a whiney 3-year-old all day long. Plus, she made dinner for us all like she has for the last three days...

So, I know all moms are the best but mine seriously may have yours beat this week:) Thanks Mom. I love you!

Work update

Well, I am officially on photography maternity leave! I am still working at the paper everyday but I am not shooting anything else until August. This last month has been really busy fitting in engagement portraits for fall weddings but I feel like working every weekend only makes me a better photographer.

Check out my blog for three new engagement slideshows but here is a sneak preview of a couple of my favorites...