Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Newborn pictures, part two








This one, and a similar one I used on our birth announcement, reminds me of the picture of Cooper in the basket in the field that I used for her announcement.





Birth story still to come... :)

Monday, February 24, 2014

Watery Winter Fun

Last Sunday night was SUPER stormy.  It poured all night, the wind howled, and unknown objects crashed about outside.  Between the storm and the babe, I didn't sleep much.  :)

Mid-morning on Monday, I realized the sun had come out and quickly (ha!) got everyone ready to go outside.  Judson wanted to use the hose and was not happy when I said he couldn't.  He said he wished it was summer.  I agreed (except that I don't want to rush these next months with Porter).  Anyway, I can't remember what we played, but it was probably the usual - basketball and/or soccer and/or golf.  Eventually, we ended up down by one of the outbuildings and there was a huge puddle.  The kids threw rocks into it forever and had a blast.  Their shoes kept going a little deeper and a little deeper into the water and Judson finally ran back to the house to get their rain boots. 

After awhile, I noticed that our seasonal pond in our field was full, so I suggested we walk out to look at it.  Judson wanted to swim in it, but I wasn't about to let that happen (it's like a huge hole, so was actually over my head due to all the rain, but that's not the only reason I wouldn't let him swim, of course ;). 

Judson had had to wade through a big puddle in the field on the way to the pond, but Cooper and I walked through the woods because I didn't have boots on.  She decided to walk with Judson on the way back.  One thing led to another, and this was the result.  It was SO worth it, though.  They hadn't laughed that hard or had that much fun in awhile.  We didn't eat lunch until after one because we were out there so long.  And then I spent all afternoon doing muddy laundry and cleaning their boots...  :)

Her first time to do something like this, I think.

The water wasn't muddy when they started playing...


See those trees in the back (in front of the huge ones)?  That's where we got our Christmas tree.




So, as it turned out, Judson got to play in water after all.  Some things never change (click here for Judson's first "puddle-in-a-field" fun.  :)

Monday, February 17, 2014

Newborn pictures

Here are some of Porter's newborn pictures that didn't make the birth announcement cut.  I LOVE them, though.  He was nine days old when they were taken, and he's already changed so much since then! (Sniff, sniff)



I love this one, because it's similar to the picture we used for Judson's birth announcement.


This girl was not cooperating, but thankfully we got one shot of her adorable smile!





More to come another day...

Friday, February 14, 2014

Snowpocalypse 2014

Lest anyone think I have my act together because I am regularly posting updates on here, let me assure you I don't.  Judson's behavior this week has nearly made me crazy, and despite what I'm about to tell you about all of my household accomplishments during the snowstorm, my house is currently an out-of-control, overwhelming mess.

Anyway, my mom had planned to come down last Thursday to pick up Judson and Cooper for the night.  I had my two-week postpartum appointment with my midwife and a number of errands I wanted to run with fewer kids.  I had NO idea it was supposed to snow.  I don't check the weather.  It's either depressing this time of year or not accurate, so I don't usually bother to look. 

My mom called Thursday morning and said it was supposed to snow eight inches or something crazy like that.  She was willing to come get the kids, as long as we were okay with them potentially being in Vancouver awhile.  We were.  :)  Still, I assumed if the snow really did stick, we'd have them back by Saturday.  Wrong.

It snowed for two days straight.  I never measured how much snow we ended up with, but it was somewhere around a foot.  Crazy for the Willamette Valley! 

I'm not going to lie.  I was pretty happy to not have to deal with bundling little ones to play in the snow and then having a bunch of wet clothes everywhere.  Snuggling a sweet, sleepy baby while watching the snow fall was MUCH better.  I also got lots done, except for my errands, of course.  Nate and I spent the (quiet) weekend sorting, organizing, and purging.  We really got a ton done...and again, still had lots of quality time with the babe.  It was wonderful, except for the fact that Judson's cold got much worse and he and my mom were up until 4 am one morning.  I felt terrible about that, but my mom was glad she was the one he kept up and not me.

We did venture out Saturday night, as I'd been stuck at home for days.  The Xterra does great in the snow, especially with studded tires, so we were safe (and Nate is very careful).  Salem was pretty much shut down, but we did find an open Mexican restaurant.  

We didn't get our kids back until MONDAY afternoon.  We probably could've gotten them Sunday, but they were doing great by then and there was no reason to risk it.  When I met them in Woodburn on Monday, Judson was playing in every little patch of snow we walked past.  The poor kid basically missed out on all the snow play because he felt so lousy.  :(  He and Cooper napped when we got home, because they were SO tired.  I woke him up when Nate got home so they could have a little time in the snow.  Good thing, because it poured that night and the snow was mostly gone by Tuesday morning.
Porter's first snow :)

The surprised look


Notice the corner of our retaining wall to the left of that little tree...

Nate spent a long time shoveling snow so we could get to the Xterra without getting soaked


Our fire pit was completely covered


The stairs...

Making a snow castle in the fading light








Our snowman, which we decorated with a snowman accessory kit we got from Grandma Becky.  So fun!

Cooper insists on wearing her jammies for her naps (no clue how that got started), and then she rarely gets dressed once she wakes up.