happiness

So our little guy Mitchell has such a sweet, cute, funny personality- we can't get over it. He brings so much happiness to our family, it's amazing. Here are a few shots that his Auntie Kelly took of him having a good time recently...

3 months to go!

I have neglected to put up pictures of my growing belly, so I hope this doesn't come as a shock to you...
Overall, everything is going well, and we are anticipating Cameron's arrival just about 3 months from now!

Stuff

I think I need some advice. The short story is that we have moved to a new place where we have less space than we have had in the past. As a result, I have been going through our belongings and trying to organize and find a place for them. As I go through boxes and containers (that haven't been opened in several years) I have started to wonder if I am a pack rat.

I have never really considered that I have a problem when it comes to getting rid of things. Sure, I always had an extremely messy room as a kid, which I shared with my poor sister who is the most organized and neat person I know. Usually it got so bad that one of two things would happen: either she would get fed up and clean it herself, or she would divide the room in half with masking tape and tell me that I couldn't cross the line until my side of the room was clean (I should mention that the doorway of the room was on her side, and I would take her actions serious enough that I would jump over her side and out the door, just not serious enough to actually clean the room)...

Over the years I think I have become a much tidier person than I once was. I have always made sure to keep the house looking clean and clutter free. I thought my junk drawer (you know, the one everyone has in their kitchen with takeout menus, spare change, scissors, mail, pictures, etc. etc. was normal, even though Jason labeled it as "the drawer of doom". Oh, and I had a couple of these drawers). Thanks to these drawers and other secret spaces, I became really good at hiding all sorts of "stuff" that I have been holding on to. I am now at a point where I don't have the room to hide it. The dilemma that I now face is that I'm not sure which of these treasures I should keep and what needs to go. Here is a list of a few things I have been holding onto and my excuses for keeping them:

*High school prom dress (I might wear it again?)
*Wedding cards (Should I toss them or keep them?)
*Passes and detention slips(to laugh about the times I was "being disruptive in class".)
*College binders (Someone might need a 13 page Spanish paper on Frida Kahlo someday...)
* A white seagull feather (Story: my cousin gave me the feather when he was little and I decided to save it to show to him one day. Now he's 16 and I think if I showed him the feather he would be thinking "what the....")
*Notes from dear people (I would never throw your note out:)
*A lot of old purses and bags from Sally's (Salvation Army, such memories of those trips!)
*Thousands of beads (It's possible I will take of the hobby again.)
*A ceramic snail (It was a gift.)

I should probably stop here because this list could go on for some time. I guess the question is: Am I being a pack rat, or do you hold on to these types of things too??

Cell Phone Woes

I seem to have bad luck when it comes to cell phones. Last week, I put my cell phone through the wash and it is no longer working as a result. So, Jason and I dug up an old (it's ancient) cell phone, and hooked my number up to it. That was a good temporary solution to my cell phone woe, except that I didn't have any of my numbers programmed into it, they were all of Jason's old contacts (thanks to cell phones I have a total of three people's number's memorized...). The other day, Mitchell was playing with the new old cellphone (probably wondering why it looked so big) and he put it on manner mode, so I couldn't hear it when it rang. While trying to fix that, we accidentally locked the phone (and when I say we, I mean Jason) and have no clue what the code to unlock it is. Now that it's locked, it is useless to me. So, I know this all seems rather trivial, and it is. But my whole reason for writing is to let you know why I haven't returned your call or message. You did call, right??

An Eventful Fall

Well, I have been meaning to post for some time now, but you know how it goes... We have been keeping busy up here in MA and have had an eventful fall so far. I enjoyed a weekend away at the Cape with some wonderful ladies from book club,

We took a great trip to Puerto Rico where Mitchell got to hang out with his abuelita and meet some family members (and learn some Spanish of course!)

I had another weekend away for the annual McGrath ladies shopping trip to Maine, and we've also had the chance to spend a lot of time with Mitchell's cousin Brody.

My belly continues to grow daily (Cameron arrives around Feb. 25th)
and Mitchell is always changing too! Here's a quick video of our little guy with one of his favorite snacks...