Beach Day.

It's true.  Lucas has never spent a whole day at the ocean.  Well,
actually wait a minute.. he has been to the Atlantic ocean, once.  On a
family holiday we took to the Netherlands.  We spent a day in Katwijk on
Zee when he was just 10 weeks old.  But not that he remembers.  So,
finally after living on the West Coast five whole years, he finally got
his day at the beach.

Carter - 2 months

Seriously.  I can’t believe I’m even typing this.. two months?? How on earth did they fly by so fast?  Sigh… we are enjoying you so much.

In the last month you have:

Sat around your first campfire.
Gone for plenty of walks in our new stroller.
Celebrated your first ever Father’s Day with Daddy.
Kept us awake in the middle of the night cooing and smiling.
Attended your oldest brother Lucas’ preschool graduation.
Went camping for the very first time.
Slept 8 hours straight through the night.

So sometimes when things seem bleak, when we’re all not getting enough sleep, and Daddy has got a fever of 102 and sleeps all day, and Mommy is trying to keep your brothers from destroying the house, (and each other), and it feels like you’re eating non-stop, and it seems the to-do list and work around here just keeps piling up, and for the life of me I cannot figure out what to make for dinner, you look up at me with those eyes, and all those worries fade away.  We love you little guy.  So much.

We talk to him.

We talk to
him.
We tell him how happy we are that he is in our lives.
How we are thankful for him and love him so.
We tell him stories about the places he will go, people he will meet.

And he responds
with sweet innocent stares. 
Pursed lips. 
Wide open mouth grins. 
And sometimes wailing.  (well, he is a
newborn after all).

But the lines
of communication between us are steadily growing, and all the countless hours of
changing, feeding, burping, repeat, seem to finally be responded to in very
welcome & adorable newborn like manner…

even if only in a lopsided, cross-eyed, half grin… I’ll take it.

Working on it..

as we speak.  ;-) I'm in a "get it done" mood today, just finished mopping the floors and cleaning the kitchen cabinets, so I thought it's about time I sit down and finish this birth story, and post some more photos of our little guy Carter.  Here's one for now..

meet Carter.

Carter was born at 4:45pm on May 15, weighing in at 9lbs 4oz, and 54 cm long.  I'll post more photos from his first week tomorrow.  Right now I should be sleeping!

Still here :)

Wow, it's certainly been awhile now with no update here, sorry to keep you waiting. :)  We're doing well, I had a real kick in the pants from a not-so-dear friend named "morning sickness", and finally seem to be over that.  Thankfully.  I didn't even know it was possible to be that sick with pregnancy.  Let's just say I was very blessed with the boys and did not have that side effect while pregnant with them.  Speculation says that perhaps it's a girl?  We'll have to wait and see, actually we only have to wait until next week.  :)  We have decided to find out if we need blue or pink sleepers to bring to the hospital this time.  With the boys we never found out, and that was great, but truthfully it's purely practical reasons why we're wanting to find out this time.  I'd like to get things ready before baby comes and if it is a girl, gift all my boy stuff to my sister who just recently had a boy, after having three girls.  Having had two boys, we would love to add another sweet little guy to the family, on the other hand a girl would be unique, now wouldn't it?  Not sure yet if we'll be making a public announcement, but if we do, you can be sure it will be here.  This fall has been difficult for me since I've been sick, and photography has taken a back seat due to this.  I will only be taking limited bookings until baby arrives in May, and will also be taking a maternity leave of approximately 4-6 months (maybe longer) after that.  I've already had to say no to a few weddings for next year, although it pains me to do so, but I know that this time with a new little one is precious and an overextended mother won't be any help to my family.  Thanks everyone for your phone-calls, emails and well wishes, we are super excited about this big step to "family of five".  Your prayers and support mean so much to us.

And of course since no post is complete without a few pictures, here a few of the newest member of my family, my niece Meagan Elisabeth, who was born on Nov. 18, and baptized yesterday.  Such a precious bundle, so soft and sweet.

Bridal Falls

Yesterday afternoon we hiked up to see Bridal Falls.  It was a great
way to cool off, since the entire trail is in shaded trees.  When we
were finished the hike, we had a snack and some drinks by the van. 
Here's a pic of Nathan relaxing on the curb, drinking his juice box. 
More pics to come later.

Living in the moment.

 A quote by Anna Quindlen.

"...but the biggest mistake I made is the one that most of us make while
doing this. I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly
clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. There
is one picture of the three on them sitting in the grass on a quilt in
the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages 6, 4, and 1. And I
wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how
they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night. I wish I
had not been in a hurry to get on to the next things: dinner, bath,
book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the
getting it done a little less."

Pikeminnow Fishing Derby

A bit overcast, but otherwise a perfect Saturday to go fishing.  Jaco and Lucas recently entered the Greg Clark Memorial Family Fishing Derby at Cultus Lake.  It made me happy to see Luke enjoying some one on one time with his Dad.
Nathan and I met the boys a little later in the day to hop in the boat and enjoy a ride around the lake.
Although neither of them caught any fish, Lucas proudly caught "a seaweed". We met friends of ours, Richard and his son Tyrel on the  lake.
My honey.  What a handsome feller. :)

A series of events.

WOW, what a weekend.  Devoured by mosquitoes and melted in the heat at at wedding shoot on Saturday, had very little sleep due to a thunderstorm last night, sick kiddies today, (Nathan's fever is 101, I'm debating taking him in) and the black squirrel is back again, trying to break in via the air conditioner.  Fun, let me tell you. :)   The photos from the wedding on Saturday will take about a week to post, I am so excited about these, I can't wait to show you.  For today, I'll leave you with some pics of Lucas beating Jaco at Candyland.