7 teeth times two

Zeph's seventh tooth poked through today, a right lateral incisor to be exact. Orson got his seventh yesterday, same a left lateral incisor.

milk house wishes

Over pancakes. Babies asleep. 24 degrees outside. Fire going, coffee in cups.

John: "Linc, if you could have three wishes, what would they be?"

Lincoln, without hesitation: "To be a real wizard, to have an adventure like Bilbo, that this whole house was made out of milk."

"working"

Is my desk really the one week old pile of unfolded laundry always on our couch? Sometimes. Can I type and fold and entertain a baby? Not very well. Does Orson help me meet my next deadline? Nope. Never. Never ever. 

once it was knights, now it's this:

Little patriots (and redcoats), found standing watch (or shooting muskets) in corners and under couch cushions.

projection crew

overnight(s) at Z farm

All three of them. Plus cousins and aunts and grandparents and a dog and a cat and a few dozen chickens and and and...no parents. For the first time, ever. Lucky kids. And lucky us. Feeling thankful for my family today...very thankful.

flower bombs

This is me. It looks like I might be pruning a hydrangea , but I am not.

 This is me defending myself from repeated attack by an armor-less soldier wielding only a dagger. And this is said aggressor throwing said dagger away and falling to the ground dramatically as I continue the deluge of light artillery.

putting his John Hancock right there

Construction of feather pen to match Hancock's pen: requested, meticulously supervised and impatiently criticized by a kid currently obsessed with Revolutionary War era paraphernalia. Baby bottle inkwell and handpainted ceramic parrot was his idea. So was standing there for 20 minutes repeatedly dipping and signing. 

Dad, Orson (and mustache)

O & Z 6 months old

V

Victoria makes it look easy AND she's very chill about the whole thing. Being the first to discover not one but two new teeth on two fussy babies? No big deal. Figuring out how to babysit tiny twins who yell at you all the time in their baby-language? Got it covered. Getting someone else's poop on your hands and puke on your shoulder at random intervals every time you see them? Just wipes it off. (And, hopefully, washes her hands). Completing difficult acrobatics in 99 degree heat with slippery babies who are screaming much of the day while she and they are confined to one small room? Best. Summer. Job. Ever.

And without her kind, patient, resourceful help, I'd never get to my desk again. Ever.

Ever.

first tooth: Orson

Caught poking through today. (And again, rapidly moving baby equals tooth-obscuring blurry shot.)

Chris & Jenn visit

And, with Ritik and Erin up too, Lincoln enjoyed plenty of QT today.

first tooth: Zeph

It's there, but since she won't let you touch her mouth without shot-ruining defensive maneuvers (a learned response to all the medication we have been shoving in her mouth many times a day since she was 5 weeks old) all I can get is this photo of blurry gums.

Zephyr sits

She's been trying to sit up for more than a month now...pretty much every time we strap her into the reclining bouncy chair. Apparently she's no recliner, not anymore. While she can't be entirely trusted not to topple forward, this week she's been sitting, happily and unassisted, for several minutes. Orson, possessed much of the time by the kind of frantic energy and rapidity of movement his sister lacks (and unfairly influenced by a larger heavier noggin), will not bend at the waist for long enough to warrant a sitting up post. 

visiting Gram

On vacation (or as well like to call it this year: "taking care of babies in another place") on Gram's fair island, with all the rain the heavens can muster for us. Photos to come...

O & Z 5 months old

LZW

Snapshot of a darn good kid.

father's day

He awoke a little later than usual, to a sweet card from his son, a big hug, squawking babies and a breakfast made by my own father. And then Grama and Grampa headed back to Z Farm and we piled into the van to fulfill John's father's day wish....

....to visit his own father.

It was a wonderful day, full of fathers and children and grandchildren (and mothers and grandmothers too). I feel very blessed to have enjoyed the patience and love and endless support of my own father and the kindness and generosity of my father-in-law.  And I know that I am incredibly lucky to have this smart, steadfast, loyal, warm (and terribly handsome) father of three choose to make his life with me. Happy Father's Day.

Z grandparents

In town this weekend for our film series kickoff event Grama and Grampa got in some couch time.

baby salesmen

Am I above using these babies to sell our new film society T-shirts? Nope. 

(And anyway, they thought it was fun. Thanks V for the lovely printing!)

TV

Lincoln doesn't really watch a broad range of television. He's always preferred to study each and every minute detail from one particular series, and, if you gave him a choice, would re-watch episodes from a single series so many times his brain would start trickling out of his ears. He is a binge watcher, no doubt about it. And if we didn't set drastic limits on the amount of time be spends before the screen I'm not sure he'd ever see the sun again. When he finds something that speaks to him, his eyes don't roam. When he was 2 it was Little Bear and nothing else, despite our best efforts to introduce his developing brain to a little variety. When that wore out it was BusyTown Mysteries, followed by a brief affair with Dinosaur Train. These three shows have lasted nearly a year and a half. Three shows. For over a year.

But today, he has fallen instantly in love with number four. To be fair, it was probably the period costumes that nabbed him. But here we are on a Sunday, two exhausted parents, two fussy babies and a kid "searching for a hero to idolize / feeling the pain as innocence dies" via the revolutionary war epic Liberty's Kids.

The Silver Lady

Z got a little gift in the mail all the way from California: a little mini California Zephyr  packed in a small paper box full of original tickets.  She thought they were pretty cool. Or, rather, I thought they were pretty cool. She mostly just tried to eat them. Thank you JK & JH for adding a smile to my day! These are going in a little frame on her wall.

the quiet after the storm

mother of three

Twin babies and a theatrical kid. And me. A mother of three. (But, truth be told, I often feel like I'm the one wearing the costume.)

strawberry harvest

A little basket full today, from his own back yard.

down the aisle

We took our first trip without Orson and Zephyr in tow this weekend, thanks to the kindness of my parents and sister.  They took over the all-hours tending duties while John and I and Lincoln packed into the car and headed to the D.C. area for cousin Andrew and Emily's wedding. This was Linc's first time down the aisle, and first time away from the crying and endless attention deficits that define our daily rhythms these days...and he was excited about it.

He rehearsed on Friday, along with a gaggle of cousins and friends. Anna and Rose (below), Oscar, Julia and Bess all walked the aisle with him.

And he got all dressed up on Saturday evening.

And entertained a large audience in the church with glee.

He sat as still as he could during the ceremony and celebrated afterwards with his partner in crime.

But it was anything goes at the reception.

Which found him immediately unbuttoned, shoeless, covered in dirt and on the dance floor.

By the end of the night he was up on the stage with the band, jamming with his cousins and so delirious with glee that the vocalist had to keep pulling him back from an edge and staircase that clearly had his name on it. When I finally pulled him down myself he hugged me tight, looked madly about him with a wild smile, and then, in a fatigued voice,  requested that we go to bed now. 

The next morning he awoke and promptly donned his old tophat for breakfast goofiness with Gram and all the W brothers and cousins. 

After which we packed up all three of his traveling hats and headed back to our regular life, tired and happy.