Ventura Familia

I can not believe it!!! First of all, I can not believe we were able to wait till Christmas morning to open the envelope!! It wasn’t even the first thing we did! Lauren opened all her gifts, we cleaned up a little bit and then we opened it! And to our surprise, we found out it’s a BOY!!! I think we still are in shock! We really were expecting it to say girl!! We are super, crazy excited!!! Now I’m on the hunt for the most perfectly adorable little brother and big sister shirts

Emme Grace has arrived!! Tommy, Tanya, Lucy and Jack completed their family of 5 on December 13th at 7:25pm. The little bundle of joy weighed in at 6lbs 12oz and 19 1/2 inches! She is truly perfect!! Soooo cute! She looks just like Jack in some pictures and in others, just like Lucy. Both are enjoying their new little sister! The whole family is doing very well!!

We got to visit very briefly while they were in the hospital and Lauren and I stopped by for a more proper visit yesterday morning. I absolutely love holding her…and so does Lauren! All she wants to do is hold Baby Emme but she is so so sweet with her <3 She holds her very gently, gives her kisses, rubs her face, strokes her hair, and the whole time she has this look of love and amazement on her face. It's really magical. Of course it will be a little different when the baby is ours, here full time, and getting most of Mommy's attention, but I hope it's a sign of the awesome big sister she will be

Here's a great moment Tanya captured on film of Lauren holding Emme at the hospital. It's seriously so precious!!

I’m almost half way there!! I can not believe how fast this pregnancy is flying by!!! We went to Brockton Hospital yesterday to have a level 2 ultrasound and see the high risk doctor. Everything is going very well The baby is measuring just right, 8oz, which is the 58% percentile. Really can’t get any more perfect, especially for a diabetic Mom! The little peanut was very active and we could see him/her yawn a few times!! So cute! The tech could see, easily actually, what the sex was and she sealed it up in an envelope for us. It’s waiting patiently on the Christmas tree….only 16 days till we open it and find out!! The heart rate was 135. Even though I know that’s just an old wives tale, it has me thinking twice about it being a girl. But who knows!! I seriously can not wait until Christmas morning!!!

They say you show a lot earlier in your second, and third and so on, pregnancy than your first and boy am I proving that to be right!! Here are 2 pictures….the first is of me pregnant with Lauren at 12 weeks and the second is of me pregnant this time around at 12 weeks. There is a significant difference!! The funniest thing is that when I posted that 12 week picture on Facebook 2 years ago, I said I was huge! If I only knew what I was in for!! Lol!

Ten adorable things Lauren is saying and doing these days….

1. She loves to count things. But she refuses to say 1. This is how she counts, “3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2″
2. We’re starting to teach her colors. She points to everything and says, “What color is that?” Her answer is almost always, “Blue.” Sometimes she says, “Pink.” Either way, she’s pretty much always wrong. But it’s a start!!
3. I think she thinks my belly button is the baby. I’m sure it’s all very confusing for her. When we’re sitting on the couch, she’ll ask me, “Where’d the baby go?” Then she’ll lift up my shirt, pull down my maternity pants, and kiss my belly button. Then she’ll point at my belly button and ask, “What is that?” I’ll tell her it’s my belly button and she says, “Baby.”
4. About a month ago, she was playing with all her Toy Story toys. She said, “Where’s Bullseye?” (She doesn’t have a Bullseye toy but she’ll be getting one) I said, “You don’t have a Bullseye. Maybe Santa will bring you one for Christmas.” So now every time I say or anyone says, “What is Santa going to bring you for Christmas?” Even though she knows how to say presents and she knows that’s what Santa brings, she says, “Bullseye!!” I wish that was all we had to get her! Lol!!
5. At Halloween time, she loved looking out the window of the car and seeing all the pumpkins! She’d yell out, “Spooky pumpkins!” Now when we’re at the store and she sees Christmas lights on display, she says, “Oooooh…pretty!” So I can not wait to drive around with her once Christmas lights are up on houses!
6. She loves the Bruins! Every time she sees a Bruins emblem she says, “Bruins!!” When we’re watching a Bruins game, she yells out “Goal!” and “Yay Bruins!” Makes her Daddy proud
7. When she does something not so nice and she knows I’m upset, she’ll look at me and say, “Sorry, Mama.” It melts my heart every time.
8. On that note, she calls me “Mama” and Victor “Daddy.” Not Mommy and Daddy or Mama and Dada but Mama and Daddy. I think that’s funny.
9. Last night at dinner, Victor was eating pepperoncinis. Lauren wanted one so Victor gave her a little piece, making sure there were no seeds. She put it in her mouth, took a bite, took it out, and said, “Spicy!” It was so cute!!
10. She can now look at pictures of all her cousins and say their names! Ryan, Josh, Ari, Brittany, Zachary, Lucy, Jack, Brandan, and Chloe!! Also Grammy and Pop!! That makes me really proud! Now we’re working on Aunts and Uncles names

Wow! I’ve always thought Lucy and Jack look like Tanya and that Lauren looks like Victor but I see a lot of similarities between the 3 kids so they must look somewhat like Tommy and I!? Check out these 2 pictures…the first is of Lucy and the second is of Lauren. Can you tell they are related?

The cottage is no longer my parents home away from home….it’s their home. They sold the Whitman house and bought Cheryl’s half of the cottage and have moved in. I couldn’t be any happier for them! Sure it’s a little weird that the house I grew up in and that I’ll always associate with Gram is no longer a part of our family. But this was by far the best thing for my Mom and Dad. This is the very first time either of them have owned a house on their own. It’s also the first time either of them have lived in a house! My father lived in that apartment in Whitman his entire life!! My mother lived there since she was 17 and before that she was in an apartment with her family. So this is huge for them!! Of course it doesn’t have the 2 bathrooms like my mother wanted, another thing she’s never had, but maybe it will someday. My parents have worked hard all of their lives and they deserve this. I am so proud of them and so happy for them!!

Lauren and I went to visit Grammy, she had the day off from work for Veteren’s Day! It was so awesome to see the furniture from Whitman in the cottage! It looks like it belongs there The lack of lighthouses in the living room will take some getting used to, though. Lol! The place looks great, even full of boxes and the old furniture. I can’t wait to see it all finished! It already felt like home!

Even though it was cold and windy, we took a walk to the beach. Lauren wanted to go swimming but we had to explain that it was way too cold for that! The waves were huge!! I’ve never seen such big waves at that beach! We also saw a great blue heron in the marsh. It really is a beautiful place and I’m so glad my parents can now call it home!!

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It snowed for the first time this year!! And it was Lauren’s first time playing in snow!!! Okay okay, snow before Halloween is a little crazy, even for me….but we decided to take full advantage of it anyways! Josh had slept over and didn’t have proper snow playing attire, but we made what we had work. And the only snowsuit we had for Lauren was from last year, which she never wore. It was a little small but it did the job. Victor made a snow slide so the kids could go “sledding” and Josh showed Lauren how to eat the snow, which she loved. Everyone had a blast!! Even the dogs came out and played for a little bit!

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We went to Edaville 2 weekends in a row!! Lauren loved it! We had plans to go with Jenn and Brooke for a picnic with the Berenstein Bears. Jenn had a BOGO coupon for tickets so we were all over that!! But then the weekend before, we found out Curious George was there! Lauren LOVES George!! So Victor and I brought her and we had so much fun! Both weekends were a blast and the weather was perfect!! We hope to go back for their Festival of Lights this winter!

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