Anticipation & Celebration of "Little L"

And the countdown begins!

Our little girl could arrive tonight or not for a couple weeks but we have a feeling she will be here soon.  We have been busy finishing last-minute "to-do's" so are taking advantage of each extra second we get and now that we're all finally feeling completely healthy, we're ready to welcome her into our family.  We are so excited to meet her! And we've really enjoyed celebrating her these past couple of weeks.  Although we're pretty decided on her name, and Maelee definitely has, we've just been calling her "Lil' L" (thanks to my dad!) for now in case our minds end up changing once we actually see her face.  :)

To start, here's a sample of pictures from our mini-babymoon that we were able to take after Christmas.  With a great hotel deal, we enjoyed a night away on the Upper West Side and two days leisurely enjoying the city with just the two of us.  My parents were already up from driving us back to NYC from our Christmas Eve spent in DE so it worked well for them to enjoy some sweet time with Maelee.  Worked all around!  We walked around SoHo and had a lovely steak dinner one day, then a very lazy morning followed by a long walk through Central Park and midtown the next.  We are so thankful for that little vacation to rest and spend time together before our life completely changes!

 Dinner at Talia's

 The lobby at Belleclaire Hotel

Our Suite!

 Views of Broadway below

 Pretending to be tourists in front of the famous statue!

 Yummy snack

Overlooking the Central Park Lake

Slideshow of the "babymoon:"

Then last weekend, one of my dearest friends, Desiree, surprised me with a super sweet shower for Little L.  With brunch at an adorable crepe restaurant down the street, several of my closest friends were there to celebrate with me.  It was such a special time!

 sweet Desiree

 Lisa and the cute diaper cake!

 

 Holly & Diana

 Maggie & Kelly

sweet Lauren

 Kim who made the trip from CT- so sweet!

 

 Love these gals!!!

What a special day in honor of another special girl.  She is so loved already!

More pics of the shower:

And finally, we decided to be brave and do some "bare belly" shots last weekend. I'm so thankful for my talented photographer husband in that we haven't had to pay for professional "photo shoots," but since the final pics of the belly with Maelee were taken outside, we thought we'd do something different with some exposed belly this time around.  Hopefully Little L won't be mortified and if you're not a fan of the bare belly, feel free to skip altogether! :)  We tried to be very tasteful and classy at least!!!

Some more of the belly!:

And at this point, the next post will feature picture after picture of Little L in the flesh!  Can't wait to introduce her :)

Thankful & Jolly (well, for the most part...)

Between the business of the holidays and a cold that is going on a full month (yep, that would be why I haven't felt completely thankful & jolly!), getting up a blog post just hasn't made the cut!  But as I'm in major catch-up and prepare mode getting ready for baby #2, I didn't want to put this off any longer.  November & December were big months after all!  With tons of pics, so be sure to go through the slideshows links below :)

For now, here are some of the faves from these past couple months.

Maelee started getting much more brave with her physical feats this fall (possibly thanks to her gymnastics classes that she loves!)- doing the big kid swings by herself, hanging on the playground equipment and climbing the big ropes, etc. 

And enjoyed exercising her artistic side by helping mommy with some festive decor.

After a mommy-daughter date to see a puppet performance to Stravinsky's Firebird.

I was in heaven with the music and Maelee did great!

 

Especially enjoying her first visit to see the Rockettes.

She was trying so hard to get the pose right- it was adorable!

Since we had decided to nix any lengthy traveling less than 2 months from the due date, my folks decided to come up to NYC for Thanksgiving.  I had hoped we could take in the Macy's parade and the balloon inflation but icky rain and freezing temps kept us from both... Some year, we will make it happen!  Maelee loved seeing the parade on TV at least, and was especially thrilled to see the Rockette's perfomance :)  Steve and I enjoyed taking the reigns on the Thanksgiving feast this year and made a ginger cranberry sauce, a festive salad with homemade cranberry dressing, Steve's family's famous and delicious yet simple stuffing, and yummy sage sweet potatoes.  Steve cooked a supper tasty and juicy turkey and my mom's scrumptious pumpkin pie didn't disappoint, as always!  Our little 3 1/2 year old decided to exhibit some of her "Miss Hyde" tendencies with a lovely dinner time fit, but thankfully, most of our time was lovely.  :)

Enjoying a scooter ride along the East River with Pop-Pop earlier in the day.

Belly shot ~ 32 weeks

Posing in her Christmas dress

Sledding with daddy in mid-December

Our visit to Macy's Santa Land. 
On the same day several schools had decided to visit.  Yep, it was a loooong wait.  

Thankfully, Maelee did great...

Telling Santa she wanted a blue doggie with a purple nose.

We're still not sure what she's talking about...

Taking in our annual trip to Bryant Park to enjoy the Christmas market and Maelee's favorite, the Carousel!

It was strange this year not to travel to VA or NC this year for Christmas but the quick 2 hr train ride to DE for the annual Christmas Eve tradition at Too-Dad & Mary Catherine's sure was easy on a 3 1/2 year old and 35+ weeks pregnant lady!  It was a quick visit but we loved our time.

Proud of the "S.W.A.T. Team" Lego helicopter she helped daddy put together!

Helping Nana with the Christmas carols!

Love these next ones of the great grand kids!

Maelee loved seeing her 2nd cousins, Mason & Lane, though we missed several others and it was especially strange not having my brother there.  BUT, we are excited to see him in Feb for his visit to meet "Lil L!" 

We left DE Christmas morning for NYC and were fortunate to have a very smooth, quick drive up and even our own little Christmas miracle of a parking spot literally in front of our building when we arrived!  After a whirlwind of unloading the car, setting out gifts, and getting goodies out and music on, we were ready to tear in.  Maelee got way too much but we loved how well-rounded her loot ended up being: science gear, puzzles, and games; dinosaurs and dino books; stuffed animals and doll clothes...  She's got a little bit of girly, a little bit tom-boy, and so far enjoys science-y and artsy stuff!  Can't wait to see how her interests continue to take shape.  And can't wait to find out what our next little lady will be into!

We enjoyed a delicious dinner of crab cakes, a cheesy pea casserole, and baked potato (after Maelee got over her once again holiday dinner whiny attitude!), followed by the delicious black bottom pie that Steve worked very hard preparing before we left. A Mason family tradition!  So it was nice to have a part of our memories with them this Christmas, too.  It was a special day and we are thankful for how God has blessed our family this year. 

The day after Christmas, Steve and I were able to take a mini "babymoon/staycation" at a quaint hotel on the Upper West Side while Nana & Pop-Pop had some time with Maelee.  We enjoyed two days of walking around the city just the two of us and just relaxing, and we are so grateful for that time!  (A few pics from that time to come in the next post... unless baby makes an early arrival!)

Maelee enjoyed her first trip to FAO Schwartz and the next day saw the "Walking with Dinosaurs" movie.  Everyone had a great time while we were away!

 Her new favorite "Rockettes" pose :)

 

Despite feeling pretty rough physically for about the whole month of December, we were still able to take in the joy of the holidays with lots of family fun, hot cocoa, Christmas movies (although largely just Frosty as Maelee wasn't crazy about the snow monster from Rudolph this year, or the "Winter Warlock" from Santa Claus...), and special reflections on the meaning of the Advent Season and the coming of Christ.

 More November Pics:

More December Pics:

More Christmas Pics: