Big Trip

For my first outing without the baby, I drove the car by myself to the library and dropped off our dvd's. During those 5 minutes I felt surprisingly empty-haanded.

10 Days of Clark

He's still new if you can count his age in days instead of weeks. Clark was born on the 7th, and we are so happy to have this cuddly little fellow in our home. Here are some happenings of the past 10 days:

Dressed and ready to go to the hospital

Clark arrives! Check out those sweet hats!


But who does he look like?!

Camille and Grace meet their new brother... still getting used to him

Grandma came to help and meet her new grandson

A pacifier as big as his face


Uncle Scott

Uncle Seth

Sleepy Dad

Coloring Easter eggs with Grandma's help

Finding eggs- very diplomatically, the girls almost always decided to take turns "finding" the eggs

All the kids- and Clark in his Easter basket with eggs

Meeting Grandpa

Meeting Uncle Dennis

First time at the park

Finally some real fun- Aunt Rachel comes to play! Camille and Grace rejoice

First day at the beach

We're tired and happy and feeling extremely blessed.

Dreams and Aspirations

The other day while we were cooking dinner, Grace was thinking hard. When I asked her what she was thinking about she said, "Mom, I wish that I could do things like you."
"Like what things?"
"Like, when you get dressed in the morning, you get dressed all by yourself, and I wish that I could do that," she said.
"What other things do you wish you could do like me?"
"Well, you go places by yourself, like the park, and I wish that I could go to the park with you."
I told her that I liked going to the park with her too. And that I could teach her how to put her clothes on by herself (she's getting much better at this now.)

Then Camille, who had been thinking hard too said, "Sometimes I wish that I could be all alone." She often says this- she likes to go in her room and be by herself. I told her that if she wanted alone time that she could be alone. Then Grace said, "I wish that I could be alone too." Camille told me that she was going to be alone right then, and I said okay, and Grace said that she wanted to go be alone too, and then said, "Do you want to come too Camille?!"

I'm so so thankful for my family. It's fun to see the girls grow up. I love to see their understanding of the world, and their love for each other and our family and all of the things around them. Lately when they play with their toys they talk about how each toy is excited to meet their new baby brother. "Oh! I'm so excited to meet your new baby brother, said Mother cat". We're excited too. What a blessing to be a mother.

Criminal Mastermind?

After reading this story, I began to wonder if maybe Grace will end up being a criminal mastermind after all.

New Scissors

Some people call it "making a party," some people call it "making a mess". The girls are really into shredding paper into little pieces of paper, and these new sharp scissors really do the trick. They absolutely love the confetti look!

Chicago Friends

We're so lucky to get to hang with our friends from Chicago lately. Colin and Jeanne have been down here (well, they live in Santa Barbara now, but we started being friends with them when we lived in Chicago) with their son Warren and their hopefully soon to be adopted baby Maddie who has been at the Children's hospital lately undergoing some pretty major surgery. This is a picture of Warren playing with the girls. They had an awesome time at the park and playing in general. It's so fun to hang out with them again- even under their stressful circumstances!

An Obligatory Belly Shot

For those of you wondering, this is what my belly looked like last week. I feel big, but not as big as the people on the street see me. I can't believe that the big day is so close. We're getting pretty excited (and tired already!)