Photo shoot

Franklin is outgrowing clothes so fast, I have been taking pictures of him in almost every outfit. I just hate that some of the adorable hand me downs or brand new gifts are not getting much use! Thankfully there will be 2 new boys in our ward by next month. He's also started smiling, so of course I have been whipping out the camera quite a bit. My favorite part of life right now is that we don't have to be anywhere or do anything on most days. What freedom! The girls are good to play in the backyard and of course get their quota of PBS kids. I am happy to be spending most of my time holding Franklin and even getting early morning naps.
I've had a number of friends or family members lose their babies or almost lose their babies over the last year and it's made me so aware of what a miracle it is to have a baby at all and makes me cherish him all the more. When he makes eye contact with me and smiles I get weepy- every time. Really hoping some of these hormones tone it down a little or I am going to have to get water proof mascara. Seriously, I am so very grateful for the miracle of a healthy birth.

Now a funny story about Odessa:
Saturday nights is is a program called "Swing Years" on NPR and Stephen likes to listen to it. They were playing a song sung by Bing Crosby and he started his famous whistling. Odessa was in the bathroom brushing her teeth and I heard her call in a voice that sounded just like she was 5 going on 15:
"Dad, that's enough whistling already!" (you could actually hear her rolling her eyes)
Me (from the bedroom): Odessa, Dad is outside- that's the radio.

Odessa: (long pause) Oh.


Ok, enough egg pictures already! But seriously, this is the biggest double yolker we have ever gotten, it's almost fully TWICE as big as the other eggs. Can you tell in my hand just how big it is?? Can you imagine the poor chicken laying this??

Tiger bottoms

Lion bottoms

Click on the collages to make them bigger- sequence is left to right, top row, then bottom

All smiles for the family until the girls got a little too close

The girls LOVE dancing for Franklin and he sat in that swing and watched them for almost an hour - without it swinging. That bottom left corner photo of Odessa was an impressive spin on her tippy toes! Last photo is totally posed : )

Got through his 4th Sunday like a champ! (the previous 3 consisted of at least one hour of crying)

Ahh, favorite photo of the week

Back at it

Stephen has been home the last 3 weeks- keeping us all busy and having tons of fun. So much so, we took an overnight trip to the WA coast. Franklin slept 7 1/2 hours in the hotel room! Must have been the sound of the ocean. LOL We even took the Forks tour of some of the houses from Twilight - I posted those towards the bottom. The trip highlights: kites on the beach, Irish pub with probably the best clam chowder we have EVER, EVER had, old people love newborns, rainforest prettiness, fun diners, and finding a million camping places, hiking places and small towns we want to re-visit.
Today I am back on my own. It's 1pm and everyone is dressed and alive. Keeping it real: Having help is great, but there are drawbacks too I think everyone will admit. If there are 2 things that help kids behave, it's boundaries and routine. When other people take care of your kids, those all change. I realized this the first week Stephen was home. I thought "why are the girls fighting so much??" Anyway, it was a great learning time for all 5 of us. Stephen learned it's hard to deal with 4 and 5 yr old girls all day. He took them all the time, full time. Once when I finally made my appearance with Franklin, we were all eating lunch together (breakfast for me) and Stephen read a magazine while I fielded the girls' questions. I asked him if the magazine was that interesting? He said "sorry, I am just glad someone else is interacting with them". I knew JUST how he felt! And now he knows how I feel too when he gets home at the end of the day.

A funny series of pics caught when he just woke up and was passing gas happy

Long suffering Tabby, the "queen"

First Sunday outfit, I got a haircut, big sisters helping out


Hunt grandparents photo shoot

Ada turned four!!


"Hey!! Ballet shoes!!"

Demo-ing the gift

Ocean Shores WA, our hotel in the background

Bring your rain coats to the beach in WA!


A minute later she got knocked over by a wave- she couldn't have been happier, or dirtier



A girl with her kite

Mom at the beach

We took 2 drives into the rainforest on the peninsula and the kids took a nature hike with Stephen while I fed Franklin
The Olympic peninsula has 3 major economies, timber, fishing and giving Seattlites speeding tickets (no joke)

Forks visitors center

The other truck- the one they used in the movies

This was my view while nursing (lol) I hope I didn't end up in other people's pictures


By the end of the drive that day, I did need a date night! Look at those cheeks

"Swan's house"

At the hospital



"Cullen's House"


Same shirt on Ada- she is much older than Franklin above!! Thanks Bri!


Second Sunday- Thanks Mandy!!


"Grandma Linford" came for a visit