Throwback Thursday

As Finn was sleeping this afternoon I became sentimental and started to look through all of my pictures in iPhoto. I figured I would share a few of my favorites for Throwback Thursday...enjoy!

Me and Tom's little sister the summer after freshman year in college - and she's still that crazy!

Carly and I at a party at my house the summer after sophomore year in college - I can't wait to see her in less than two weeks!

In Washington D.C. the summer after freshman year in college, I think.

When I was a bridesmaid in my cousin Meghan's wedding my Junior year of college - still one of my favorite dresses that I hope I will fit back into!

Summer 2010 in Kennebunk, ME!

33 Weeks

I think this is the last wear of this non-maternity shirt!

How far along?: 33 weeks 

Maternity clothes: Still mostly non-maternity with stretchy skirts and dresses.

Best moment this week: Seeing my parents and family friends when we went home for a wedding.   

Symptoms: The Calms Forte seems to be working better and I am definitely sleeping more in a night but I'm still waaay more tired than I had been in the second trimester but not quite as tired as I was in the first. 

Movement: Oh geeze I swear that this week he's been waaay more active and seems to never stop moving. All of those stories about women not knowing they were pregnant until they gave birth make me laugh now - I mean did they think their intensities and organs were moving around in there or what because this is crazy movement that definitely does not just feel like digestion anymore!

Food cravings: Nothing really other than wanting one of those cheese biscuits when we passed a red lobster this weekend but then again who doesn't want one of those?!?

Have you started to show yet?: Oh yes! I am straight out and all belly. I've had a few people tell me I look way bigger than 33 weeks but I have measured exactly on at every midwife appointment so its probably because I'm straight out and not to the sides at all.

Gender prediction: It's a boy!

Mood: Happy that these next few weeks will hopefully fly by with all we have going on so he'll be here before we know it!

Looking forward to: Going to Maine this weekend for the wedding of our two best friends (who also happen to be the baby's God Parents)! We leave early tomorrow and come back Sunday so it will be a long weekend with lots of college friends that we don't get to see nearly enough and we can't wait. We're going to stop at a few places along the way since its a 5.5hr drive and there's no way I can make the trip without multiple stops. I'm excited to stop at the Ogunqit Beach on the way where Tom is gonna take some maternity pics for me since we can't afford legit maternity pics right now. It will be gorgeous and I can't wait :)

31 Weeks

From our trip to Skaneateles this past weekend. 

How far along?: 31 weeks 

Maternity clothes: Still mostly regular clothes since I'm wearng my stretchy dresses and skirts with the nice weather!

Best moment this week: Going back to Skaneateles - where we were married - for the weekend.   

Symptoms: Still just tired. Sleep is still not going well even with using Calms Forte (a homeopathic sleep remedy). 

Movement: Oh yes, he's very active and moving a lot!

Food cravings: Nothing really.

Have you started to show yet?: Oh yes! 

Gender prediction: It's a boy!

Mood: Happy but very overwhelmed. I have a bunch of freelance things to get done in the next week and I'm not sure when I'll have time for it. We have a long weekend with the holiday so all I want to do is relax and do nothing but that's not seeming like a possibility with all of my freelance work :( 

Looking forward to: The long weekend which will hopefully be pretty lazy!

And here are a few pictures from our weekend :)

Downtown Skan

This is what the entire lake looks like - it is crazy clear and so beautiful!

excuse my heavy under eye concealer - not sure if this or bags under my eyes are better!

You Want How Many Kids?

Tom and I get this a lot when we mention how many children we want. By the way, we want 4 although we know it is really up to God how many we are blessed with. We are hoping to not be blessed with more than that but if it happens it happens and we will figure out how to deal with it. I have one brother and Tom has two sisters (although he  only grew up with his older sister as his younger sister was adopted when he was a senior in high school) and as much as we love them we both want our kids to have multiple siblings and have a big family. My mom is one of four, my dad is one of two, Tom's dad is one of five and tom's mom is one of five with 5 (I think) other step-siblings so we both grew up with big extended families and LOVE that. So basically we want our children to have lots of siblings because we see how awesome it is through our parents.

We know financially it is more difficult to have 4 kids, but once Tom and I pay off our student loans (in hopefully 5-7 years) we will feel like millionaires considering our monthly payment is 2.5 times our mortgage right now. But we also know that our children will not be in the latest and greatest clothing and we're fine with that - they grow so fast anyway that to me it seems like the biggest waste to spend a lot of money on their clothes. We know that eating out will be a treat but that's how it is with us too since we only go out maybe once a month or on a special occasion.

College tuition is the only thing we know we will struggle with having 4 kids. Most people believe that their children should take out loans and that as parents they do not owe their kids a paid college education. But Tom and I believe education is the most important thing we can give our children and want to give them the best they can get. We also do not want our children to have to be in the insane school debt that we are in as it is a huge financial burden and if God forbid we were to loose our jobs there is no way unemployment could pay even half of our payment thats how much we owe. My parents paid almost all of my education but Tom's parents were not able to and he got very limited financial aid as he was in one of the most competitive physical therapy programs and they don't give scholarships so his loans are massive. We have already decided that we will be starting a college fund for each of our children as soon as they are born and then we will help out a much as we can so that they leave school with very minimal debt.

We are already planning a family vacation to Disney next July for our Little Man's 1st birthday :)

We still plan on taking family vacations every year by making sure we save throughout the year. We both love to travel and my parents traveled everywhere with my brother and I - from Hawaii to Europe - and we want our kids to travel to amazing places as well. Growing up my parents believed traveling was more important than having a summer camp or having "toys" like dirt bikes or 4 wheelers and as much as I wish we could have a summer camp and travel to Europe that won't be an option with 4 kids so traveling wins. Again, this means we will have to save and skip eating out except for special occasions, but traveling is important to us and we want all of our kids to experience that no matter how many we have.

So yes, 4 kids is "a lot" to most, but it is just right for us and we can't wait to grow our family :)