easter morning

Stuffed animals for the babies (thanks Gram!) and a proper basket and books for the big brother. A hunt with Frankie and Oscar. A road trip to Grandpop and Grama Ewa's house for hunt #2 and brunch with the W clan. And an exhausted, happy boy by day's end.

first conversation

And suddenly, they notice each other. She smiles. He raises his brow. She smiles again. Back and forth back and forth for several adorable minutes.

Lincoln

Just a regular day around here today. With a boy, his preferred attire, and a smile.

first road trip

On my own. In the car. 5 hours. Two babies, a kid and a sleep deprived mother. A layover at my parent's farm half way there. A few screaming stops on the side of the road. Two nights of crying in the night at my sister's house. And back home again.

Jiggity jig.

stripes

on two different babies...

with two different temperaments.

mess

This mess that has overtaken our house is a metaphor for something, but my brain is so completely filled with the intricate and exhausting clutter of two babies and one small child that I can't quite put a direct sentence together about it.

Bee bibs

...and Grama, the bee lady.

O & Z two months old

real love, with a side of snot

Fine. I will admit that I actually try to keep Lincoln away from the babies, and I feel horrible about it. Every time I turn around he's kissing them and touching their faces and smiling and drooling on them and all these other cute loving things that should warm a mother's heart. But my lovable little preschooler is a bucket of green snot at this late winter moment. Coughing up phlegm and spewing yellow goo all about him. And given our recent scare with Zeph, my freak-out knob is turned all the way up. And it is sad. And I don't like myself. And John keeps calmly telling me to chill. And I bristle. But then there is this photo:

And I am reminded that some love cannot be squashed, even if it is bubbling up through a river of snot. And maybe the passing of a cold from one kid to another is just the thing we'll endure in order to keep these moments.

first smiles

And they are just what we need around here today.

A slighted birthday

for John this year...although his mother made him a beautiful lemon cake and his son taped streamers up to welcome him home. And we all sang happy birthday. But it wasn't anywhere near the party we'd planned. After five days in the hospital with his 6 week old daughter though, I know he felt it a tremendous gift to bring her home today. We all did. A happy 35, even so.

she's ok

but she's way too little and innocent to be here.

to the moon

Today, for the first time, Lincoln begged me to make something for him and then promptly pushed me aside and did it all by himself (with a little encouragement from Gram). A moon map and a lego Eagle and Colombia were well underway by the time I was done pumping, and they occupied their maker for a good part of the afternoon.

finally, Gram!

Here to help this week, and do a lot of double holding. 

They've been snuggling in the blankets she knit for weeks now, but this week they get to indulge in snuggles in the arms of the real thing. 

we're living in the living room

...literally. This is (largely) the extent of the world these babies know right now: a small corner in the house usually reserved for wine bottles, cake plates and firewood.

GrandPop and Grama Ewa to the rescue

We are incredibly lucky to have willing help from our families. 

This week, GrandPop covered the early evening shifts with John, ran one end of numerous pirate ship battles Lincoln, wielded bottles and diaper cream and was completely unfazed by all the crying going on around here. By the time Grama Ewa got here on the weekend to shoulder some of the bottle duty, we were infinitely more rested and GrandPop surely (though he denied it) was exhausted.