Junebugs

Bridget's first ice cream cone 

Celebrating summer with BFFs at Needham Junction

Ready for action!

Finn's first soccer season ended (he loved the sport AND the medal!)

Movie night!

Will's last day of preschool

Saying goodbye (for now) to great friends

Crazy fun playdate with old friend Ryan

We went off to Storyland for the second year in a row

First conscious Ferris wheel ride!

To jazz up the ride, Finn told me that every time we reached the top a tiger would come out of the air to eat us...

Humpty Dumpty and the boys

Passed out in a very strange (but snuggly!) position

Back home to chalk up the driveway

Wanting to be a preschooler like her brothers

We're trying to make sure our second and last summer as a family of five is as full and fun as humanly possible (while I cart around a big belly in 90-degree heat). So far, so good!

Welcoming Samuel Murray!

Leah and Johnny had their baby boy and he is a beauty! Look at that peaceful face...just gorgeous. Congratulations to the three of you, and I can't wait to snuggle little Sammy!

Twins! AND the Fourth and Final "Boy or Girl" Poll!

The twins at 6.5 weeks gestation, the day I found out about them in a routine dating ultrasound while Bridget struggled to get out of her stroller and I sat up in shock when two side-by-side sacs appeared on the screen.

Taking shrimpier shapes at almost nine weeks...

Snuggling at twelve weeks!

At the most recent ultrasound (16 weeks along), they were stacked vertically. Baby A (the bottom one) was doing actual somersaults, kicking and jostling Baby B (on the top bunk)--who slept coolly through the entire gymnastics performance. I wonder whether that small glimpse of their personalities will hold true on the outside?

We were stunned, thrilled, overwhelmed, incredulous, and we continue to cycle through all those emotions on a more muted scale as we wrap our brains (and belly) around these babies. 

The anatomy scan will happen at the end of next week, so I'm putting up my last ever (and most elaborate) "Boy or Girl?" poll on the blog so friends and family can vote on these fourth and fifth additions to the clan. And for the record, I have no intuition about the sexes of the babies whatsoever, so you're on your own!

A Typical Conversation with Each Boy

With Will:

"Hey, Mom? You know how there used to be a wart on my hand over here? Well, you can still kinda see it, but mostly you can't. That's because it's camouflaged into the color of my hand."

"Uh...yeah, buddy, you're right."

"Mom, I'm going to tell you a joke. Ready? Okay: people lived a long time ago with dinosaurs. [Pauses, grins] I'm just kidding! They did NOT exist at the same time."

With Finn:

"Mom! This is a shark when it was a baby. And this is a mommy cat when she was a baby. When was Dad a baby?"

"The 1970s."

"Okay. [Sketches something with his crayons] I'm drawing Dad as a baby. When were you a baby?"

"The 1980s."

"Okay, this is you as a baby. When was Grandpop a baby?" [repeat ad infinitum]

Or:

Bridget: Ba-pa? Ba-pa? [pointing at Finn's backpack]

Finn: [in singsong voice to her] Gen-ius, gen-ius, you're a-a gen-ius!

And also:

Me: Are you getting dressed over there, Finny?

F: I'm just having a meeting...with my UNDERWEAR! Ahahahahahahahaha!

Bridget at 15 Months (and a little catch-up, too)

Are you ready to be bombarded by cuteness? Fifteen months is always my "Oh, wait, now I've fallen totally in love with you!" milestone. Do I have to reassure you that I love my babies prior to that point? No, you already know that. But fifteen months is when I fall IN LOVE, and it happened like clockwork again as Bridget's personality simply exploded and all her idiosyncrasies became intensely clear.

Here she is at thirteen, then fourteen, and now fifteen months:

Fourteen months, when she decided she was a climber and a daredevil, and when her hair became un-tameable:

We had to dismantle the music table because she climbed up and jumped off, bonking her head in the process.

Three crazy kids

The beginning of Bridget saying "Cheeeeeese" out loud when we turn a camera her way...a Noon for sure!

And these days, she's blossomed into our chatty chicky:

First pair of sneaks!

Her words to date include: Thank you, please (eeeeeze!--also means "more"), yummy-ummy, tickle-tickle, backpack (ba-pa), shoooooes, diaper, yessss (often a nod of the head without words), duh for done, this, cracker...and some others I'll think of as soon as I publish this post.

Next I have to get around to writing Bridget's birth story before she reaches the year and a half mark! And I will.

The Finn Man

I know it happens to all two-and-a-half-year-olds who somehow turn into almost-three-and-a-half-year-olds, but Finny has matured so much in such a seemingly short amount of time.

Here he was on the first day of his second year of Toddler Tots:

This last one is him holding hands with one of his BFFs, who I still call Lala (Finn's first name for her) even though everyone including Finn himself calls her Natalie.

And here's Finn today at his last day ever of this wonderful program, after two years of thriving there:

 With Lala (sorry, Natalie!), nine months later and nine YEARS older (to my eyes)!

Finn is so independent now, it boggles me daily. He scared my parents last week by climbing into their car, closing the door behind him, and then buckling himself in--all before they'd even noticed he'd left the front steps. "Too competent for his own good," my mom declared, and I couldn't agree more. Although, is there really such a thing as too competent? That independence is what drove him to walk early, to potty train himself, and it's what makes him determined these days to name all the numbers he sees and to write his letters with precision. Okay, so some of that might also be inspired by competition as well. Still, say what you will about Finn, the kid's got ambition.

Because he still talks in a bit of a baby voice, it's hard for me to remember that he's also matured verbally and become so expressive and imaginative. He'll tell me that he met some friendly bears when he was playing in the basement, and that they found a cheetah together and ate it. You know, as you do. We watched Madagascar 3 the other night and he only whimpered a couple of times, asking me "When is the tiger going to stop being so grumpy?" He's starting to realize that Will might be bigger and know more, but that he isn't always the last word--this means their relationship is a bit tougher, but also growing up and into something that works for both brothers.

And Finn as a big brother...ohhh, my heart.

Loving too hard 

There's a diaper around her neck--he said "Look, Mom, she's Superbaby!"

An accurate representation of how Bridget feels about Finn