Happy Thanksgiving!

Maia is generally such a morning girl. She is very fond of everything in the "mud room" and generally goes there to find all sorts of interesting non-toys to explore and wear. Here she found daddy's work gloves. Although not exactly stringing words together into a phrase, you will hear her in the mud room saying: "Shoes! Mama. Shoes..." and you'll find her playing with my shoes.

We hosted Thanksgiving again this year. We divvy up the food, which makes it quite manageable. Not to mention, we need the excuse of people coming over to really give the house a more thorough cleaning.

My folks generally bring the turkey (in grandma's circa 1940s roaster), stuffing and potatoes. Andrew makes the spicy sausage dressing and pies: Pecan, Pumpkin and Apple. I make the sweet potato and green bean casseroles, pick up a Honey Baked Ham and rolls. YUM!

Once the food and the family arrive, however, I find myself too distracted to remember to take pictures. In a quieter moment, though, I did catch this one of Papa reading a book to Maia.

After the table was set, and everyone was trying to decide where to sit, Ray took Maia to change her diaper. Maia's high chair was set in the back corner of the sun room, between Aunt Kathleen and Grandma. So when Ray came out of Maia's room with her, Kathleen said: "Here, I'll take her." Ray obliged, turning Maia toward Kath wearing this t-shirt...

I'm going to be a... big sister!

"Oh!" the gasp goes out, and some explaining to the kids needs to be done... You're going to have another cousin!

Meanwhile, in New York, we have enlisted an accomplice. We have sent a copy of the 8 week ultrasound to Aunt Tara, who has put it into a Thanksgiving card to Nana and Papa from Maia. Just before sitting down to dinner at Uncle Len's, Tara finds her window of opportunity (Effie and Raymond actually near each other) and hands over the card, telling her this is what they're getting for camp next year. To add to the unraveling, Tara folded a sales flyer around the picture.

As it was reported to us, Effie stood there reading the card, mouth agape. The phone rang at 2:30 pm, and we knew exactly who it would be!

So there it is. The Ashley Family is growing... again! We are due for our addition on June 12, 2010.

This is day number 83 and you're 11 weeks pregnant! You have 197 days or 28 weeks left, and are 29.6% of the way there. Baby's age since conception is 69 days or 9 weeks.