My First Baby Shower!

Saturday, my Aunt Sandra gave me my first baby shower at her house. I must admit I am pretty excited about all my upcoming baby showers! We got one of our high chairs, our exersaucer, monitor and diaper bag just to name a few things!! And there was lemon cake to make it even better!!!

With my hostesses!

What adults do at a 2 year old's birthday party!

Today, Eric and I attended and photographed our god-daughter, Mallory's 2nd Birthday! Mallory is the daughter of our dear dear friends Chuck and Jill. More to come about Mallory's birthday later but for now.....here is what adults do after all the kids leave the birthday party....

O'malley's last photo shoot.....alone!

O'malley is our 4 legged first born. We got him about 6 months after we got married. We quickly realized that O'malley had a little separation anxiety and did not like to be away from his mom and dad; therefore when he was in his crate or in the laundry room he barked.....and barked......and barked. Eric and I decided to just let him run free in the house and see what happened. No crate, no baby gate, nothing. Amazingly he did great! O'malley never chewed on anything he wasn't supposed to, he didn't  use the bathroom in the house, nothing. The one thing about O'malley is.....he ALWAYS has to be touching someone. This means if you are sitting on the couch then he is sitting right next to you. If you are eating dinner at the kitchen table, he is sitting on the tile right next to you and so on and so forth. He spends his days laying on his bed in our office, in front of our big window so he can see out. Point is...he has been the perfect dog. Eric and I have already said that when he goes to dog heaven we will NEVER have another beagle. Fact is, no dog could ever replace O'malley.

But O'malley has a little shock coming to him in early 2012. He has been the center of our attention for the last 5 1/2 years so we are a little nervous about what he will do when Graham and Evie Claire make their appearance at home and he realizes they aren't leaving.  Several people have asked what will happen to O'malley when the babies get here. I find it a dumb question really. What do you mean what will happen to him? He will continue on his beagle lifestyle, with a few changes. We aren't giving him away. We aren't giving him to his grand mommy. I strongly believe that if you adopt a pet then that pet is yours to take care of, to love.....your responsibility. Honestly I have no idea why someone would adopt a pet if they were going to ignore him or her (but that's a soap box for another day).

As I said in an earlier post my friend and awesome pet photographer, Cynthia Trundle, has taken O'malley's picture a few times. She also has this awesome chair that she photographs pets in and I have been dying to get O in that chair. So we set up an appointment with her for last week when Eric and I were both off and I thought I would share some of those pictures with you. She did an amazing job and I can't wait to frame some of these! Sadly, I am sure this will be O'malley's last photo session without two kids pulling his tail or his ears! :)

What's in a name??

As soon as people find out if you are having a boy or a girl or both in our case they say "Have you picked out a name?" Before I got pregnant I was adamant that I was not sharing our baby's  name. And had it been only 1 baby I would have seriously considered not finding out the sex of the baby but with 2 there was no way I could not find out.

There is no element of surprise anymore when it comes to childbirth. You can take a pregnancy test 5 days early now, find out the sex of your baby half way through your pregnancy, get your nursery ready, and even see your baby on a 4D ultrasound now. So...I felt like we could at least keep the names a secret. I was wrong. After I found out that God had tremendously blessed us with both a boy and a girl I was excited to give them each a name and quit calling them "he" or "she" or "A" and "B." And selfishly I wanted some monogrammed gifts too! :)

Eric and I play around with a lot of different names. It kind of reminded me of the episode of Friends when Ross and Rachel were trying to pick out a name for Baby Emma and they each got 3 veto powers. We veto-ed each other's names a lot. It got to be pretty funny. Every night while we were eating dinner or watching TV one of us would just randomly say a name and the other would either veto or say "it's ok."

I was also pretty adamant that their names would not rhyme, have the same initials, or even the same first letters. These babies are 2 separate individuals and I want them to always know that. I think too many parents of twins group them together too much. The ONLY thing these babies share is mine and Eric's DNA and my uterus. They are brother and sister and it would be no different if I had gotten pregnant with each of them at 2 separate times.

Eric was adamant that whatever name we are calling them is the name that is going on their birth certificate. No shortening of names, no nicknames, no middle names used as first names, etc.

After my dad died I knew I wanted to use his middle name "Everette" if I ever had a little boy. But the more I started thinking about it I liked Everette for a girl too.

So without further adieu I would like to introduce you to.....

Baby A- Evie Claire Kittle (we will be calling her Evie Claire)

Baby B- Graham Everette Kittle 

We were able to use Everette as a middle name for Graham and then since I liked Everette for a girl too Evie just seemed appropriate to me! 

Graham and Evie Claire, mommy and daddy have prayed for you for several years and we can not wait to see your sweet faces and meet you on your birthday!!!!

23 weeks....

Time flies! I am almost 24 weeks and these babies will theoretically be here in 10-14 weeks! Praying they don't decide to come any earlier. I am starting to get more tired and by the time dinner rolls around I am ready to sit down and relax. Eric finished the nursery last week, it's painted, chair-railed, and all the furniture is moved in and put together. I will post pictures of everything once the bedding goes in. He did an amazing job all by himself and I can't wait to see it all come together!

The babies are moving ALOT! And for the first time last week Eric felt them. He was so excited and talked about how amazing an experience it was. I get to feel them move everyday so I know that he really likes it when he is able to.

We are definitely in the final weeks of baby mode. I would like to be completely done with everything by Dec 1st so I can relax for a few weeks before they make their big arrival. Until then it's go, go , go to get it all finished!

Happy Anniversary Mr. Kittle!

Eric and I have been married 6 years today!!! I can NOT believe it has been that long! To say that is has been easy would be an understatement. Not because we, as a couple, have had a hard time. We have had SO many trials and obstacles come our way in these 6 years. To list them all would be boring and whiney. But I can't imagine going through them with anyone else! Eric Kittle, you are most definitely my rock!

So here are the top 10 reasons why I love you (in no particular order)

1. You and I can sing a mean rendition of Prince's "When Doves Cry." We know ALL the words and sometimes we even do a little dance routine to it!
2. You always let me pick the restaurant we are going to eat at because you know if you pick I will say "that doesn't sound good to me."
3. You hate to fly and know that I love to fly so you suck it up and do it for me! And we have taken some pretty awesome vacations on an airplane!
4. You continue to surprise me daily, whether is be with flowers, a note, a card, a surprise birthday party or a surprise vacation! Thank you!
5. You pray for me and our precious babies everyday!
6. You make me laugh! And I mean belly laugh! I always tell you to be funnier when we are around our friends and you always reply that your wit is reserved only for me!
7. You remind me of my dad in certain little ways! And I never noticed it until after he passed away.
8. You know me better than anyone. Example...when, at the beach, I ask you to get into the ocean you always reply "you have to pee don't you?" :) Most people woudn't know that's the only reason I ever get into the ocean. Maybe that's a little too much information for a blog post.....
9. You are the best gift giver!!!! My gifts always fail in comparison to the ones you buy me.
10. You play a mean game of Wii tennis! And will stay up ALL NIGHT with me trying to beat Super Mario Brothers 3!

Our wedding day. October 15, 2005

O'malley's Lucky Dog Day!

A picture to make you smile.....my friend and fellow photographer, Cynthia Trundle, is a ridiculously awesome pet photographer. She did our Christmas card picture last year (on the right side of the blog) and she takes the best pictures of O'malley. Here is a picture of the little guy she took yesterday! Makes me smile! Hopefully it will make you smile too!

UT Girls Weekend 2011....

I love my UT girls! Every year since we graduated (in 2002) we have taken a trip. Sometimes we pick some place random and sometimes we take our husbands. It's great! We have gone to Chicago, Denver, Washington D.C., Amelia Island...just to name a few. We now have 9 children between us with 2 sets of twins!! I never dreamed sitting on our couch in college Tracy and I would each have twins! This year it just worked out that we could all be in Knoxville for the Tennessee/Georgia game. It was definitely our shortest trip yet but as long as we get to spend our time together that's ok! UT didn't win the game but we still had a blast!

Tracy and Michele at Calhoun's

Kate and I at Calhoun's

 The top picture is from UT Homecoming 2001, 10 years ago!!! Hard to believe we have been out of college almost 10 years!!!

Happy Reunion 2011 my girls!! Can't wait to see what 2012 holds!!

Stomach pats....

On Sunday I had some photo sessions at the Dent House and one of my BFF's, Jayme and her family got in on the action. Jayme's little girl Addi is precious and she just cracks me up! I can't believe she is almost 4! The day she was born I called the hospital to see how things were progressing and actually talked to Jayme while she was pushing. I am pretty sure there is a picture somewhere of her on her cell phone with me while pushing.  Anyway, I got a couple of pictures with Addi and Jayme before our session was done! 

Sweet little Addi-boop and myself! I try to take a picture with her each year because she bought me the cutest picture frame that says " I love Aunt Ho-Ho" (which is what she calls me and I LOVE that)!  After Jayme told Addi that I was having 2 babies she thought that it was 2 girls. Addi originally wanted to name the babies Lady Gaga and Kids Bop. When I was about 12 weeks pregnant she told Jayme that she thought God wanted my babies to come right then. Now that she knows there is a boy and a girl in there she thinks we should name the girl Katy Perry! We will think on it, Addi! 

 Jayme and me.....

 This would be Jayme trying to make a heart on my stomach.....I hate these maternity pictures! You will not see me with one and when I have a client who wants to do them (Chuck and Jill Davis) I always said "Ok, however it was not my idea and I will not be posting it on my blog).

Next, would be Jayme trying to touch my stomach! If anyone knows me well enough they know I do not think pregnant women should have their stomach touched nor do I want mine touched....this goes for strangers or close friends! If I want you to touch my stomach I will ask you but don't hold out....more than likely I probably won't ask you to touch it! :) I just think it's weird. It doesn't mean I don't love you....